Twin Flames
by Xhexanthia
Summary: We'd been joined at the hip since we were born. I'd always been in background making sure he didn't do anything too stupid, especially after I'd already suffered the loss of one brother. Ace was hung up on things that he couldn't change and I just wanted to forget the past. We saw the important things differently and sometimes I wondered if we were really twins. M 4 safety sake.
1. The Devils in the Details

"If it's a girl Ann, if it's a boy Ace."

\- Portgas D Rogue -

* * *

The rookie pirate had put up a good fight Marco thought from atop the Moby's figurehead as he watched Oyaji extended his hand out to the defeated brat.

With his hearing, even from this distance, Marco could hear Pops ask the fire wielder to become his son. He had a feeling that would be the case when the Old Man had first set eyes on the brat as he lay next to an equally exhausted Jinbi, still somehow managing to get to his feet and square off against Pops when they'd shown up. It was impressive to say the least. Even fire fists crew would more than likely end up as part of the family Marco thought as he surveyed the members of the Spade Pirates who stood on the edge of the clearing watching and waiting to see what happened next.

His attention was drawn back to his Pops when Ace roared "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" before making one last ditch effort to attack the old geezer. However the young pirate was easily subdued by a punch, the Old Man not even having to use Haki because the fire brat was so worn out.

Marco knew shit was about to hit the proverbial fan when Pops picked up the downed teenager and the young pirates crew yelled out in protest. However nothing could of prepared his for what happened next.

He'd seen a lot of strange and next to impossible things in his time as a pirate while being apart of the Old Man's crew... but he had no explanation for the torrent of flames that was currently heading towards his Pops.

The fire Logia was currently unconscious over the top of Oyaji's shoulder... wasn't he?

* * *

I expected something like this to happen, it always bloody did. Ace got himself into the shit with that ego of his and I had to pull him out of it.

I'd watched the hotheaded idiot fight against Jinbi, a frigging Shichibukai, for the better part of five long damn days and then like the fool I knew him to be he went up against Whitebeard as soon as the Yonko had shown up.

And I was quite content to leave him to his fight and hang in the background to keep the crew from doing anything stupid as I knew full well that I'd have to be the one to bandage him up and deal with his foul mood once this was done. I was literally the only one on our crew who could withstand his fire based outburst and attitude.

Maybe Whitebeard could knock some sense into the idiot?

But my decision to just sit back and watch went up in flames when, instead of leaving my idiot brother on the ground like I thought the Yonko would do, the giant man picked Ace up and slung him over his shoulder before turning around to walk back to his ship.

That's when I saw red... literally.

I shot myself at Whitebeard in a torrent of flames, noticing the genuine surprise in his wide eyes as I came at him. My brother was the show pony, I preferred to keep to the shadows. It's why I didn't have a bounty poster and aside from our crew and a few dead pirates who I'd been forced to use my abilities on, no one knew that technically there were two Mera Mera No Mi users running around.

The world government was already after us because we were pirates, not to mention Ace had told them to stick their offer of making him a Shichibukai up their double standard arse's. We didn't need them after us because we'd somehow done the supposedly impossible. I had no intention of being a lab rat thank you very much. I was only out here to keep my idiotic twin from getting himself killed like what happened to our other brother Sabo. Not make a name for myself.

But it seemed that even though I was fresh faced and raring to go all it took from the Yonko was one solid punch - that my logia abilities somehow weren't able to protect me from - and I was down on the ground clutching my stomach as I coughed up blood.

What the fuck was that about?

With blackness dancing on the edge of my vision I made one last ditch effort to retrieve my brother but was instantly felled to the ground, my jean clad knees hitting with enough force to rip holes in the fabric, as an invisible force that felt like someone had just dropped a ship on me weighed me down.

I screamed out my frustration as red flames licked up my arms briefly before fading while I could hear the crew yell out my name in panic. It wasn't often that I got my arse beet, normally I was patching up our idiot Captain.

Somehow during the fight - if you could even call it that. More like a one sided arse kicking - Ace's orange hat that I had been keeping safe had fallen off my head, taking my red bandanna with it and allowing my untameable mess of ringlets to fly free. I used the last of my strength to try and search for the orange monstrosity and my precious red bandanna that our younger brother Luffy had given Ace and I as presents before we'd left.

My long strawberry blonde locks that Gramps said looked so much like my mothers were obscuring my line of sight slightly as they hung loosely around my face, but not enough that I wasn't able to see the precious objects that were scant feet in front of me as I reached out for them.

However it wasn't until I suddenly collapsed forward under the crushing invisible assault and strong arms caught me before my face smashed into the ground that I realised I'd failed to notice someone was sneaking up on me. And the person wasn't part of my crew who I could still hear yelling my name with renewed fear.

"Please don't take my brother from me." I begged from the stranger before darkness finally claimed my mind.

* * *

Marco carried the small blonde back to the ship as Pops carried the women's Captain, easily leaping up onto the Moby with her as Pops's did the same with the still unconscious pirate that was slung over the Old Man's shoulder. The other commanders took care of the rest of the Spade Pirate crew that had attacked in a futile attempt to get their two crew members back. At least they were loyal to the end, which was always a good quality to have in a crew.

He'd picked up the strange orange hat and red piece of fabric that the blonde had been reaching for right before she'd passed out, handing them to Thatch as the commander had come to stand between him and Pops.

They'd known Ace was a devil fruit user, his nickname of 'Fire Fist' a well earned epithet from the young pirates overzealous tendency to rely heavily on his logia abilities, but the pirate in his arms was completely unknown to him.

"So was I seeing things, or did they both turn into fire?" Thatch asked loudly as Marco laid the women down on one of the stretchers that had been placed on Moby's deck while the Old Man did the same with Ace, the nurses fussing around the pair as Curiel came over to look at their injuries. Ace was definitely in worse shape than his crew member. Marco stayed crouching beside her even as one of the nurses pulled the long sleeved white button down shirt and red singlet that was under it up to reveal the darkening bruise now adoring her stomach.

Marco had been surprised that she'd not only taken one of the Old Mans Haki enforced punches but she'd managed to stay conscious for more time than most rookies did when faced with the Old Mans Haoshoku Haki, which was an impressive feet.

"What was it she said to you my son?"

Marco looked over at the Old Man as he sat down into his chair that was built into the main deck. "She begged us not to take her brother from her, yoi."

"Interesting." Was all Pops would say as some of the nurses began to fuss over him.

Just as he was about to question the Old Man over the fact that he obviously knew more than what he was letting on a strangled gasp sounded followed by a few sputtering coughs before the small blonde laying down in front of him sat up with surprising speed and aimed at fiery punch straight at his head.

Marco managed to catch the burning appendage and his own blue flames came out to repair the damage her fire was causing, the blue intertwining with the red and turning purple in places while causing a strange feedback to flow up his arm. His eyes went to hers as he heard the low gasp, noticing the wide chocolate stare and how her lightly freckled cheeks went red as she tried to pry her hand back.

He let her have it back and watched as her shoulders tensed and her gaze bounced around those on deck before landing on Ace who was a few feet away being bandaged up by Curiel. He saw her visibly relax a fraction as she breathed out a sigh of relief.

Movement behind him however had her tensing again and Marco looked over his shoulder to see the unconscious members of the Spade Pirates, most of who were being carried by Jozu, Blenheim and Atmos, being put down onto the deck.

"They're only unconscious, yoi. You're not in any danger unless you do something stupid." He said in reassurance as he turned back to her.

However now her jaw was clenched and her once warm chocolate eyes held a fierceness to them that sent a small shiver down his spine as her gaze looked onto where the Old Man was sitting. "What do you want from us Whitebeard?" Even through clenched teeth her voice was smooth like silk and sweet like honey.

"I'll offer you the same thing I offered your Captain, if you still want to fight then take my name and roam the seas wild and free. Become my daughter." Marco tensed next to her, expecting the supposed fire user to react in the same volatile manner Ace had to Pops question.

Instead she threw her head back and laughed and he noticed everyone raise their brows at her reaction. No one had ever laughed before when Pops had offered them a place on his crew as apart of his family.

"So that's what you said to get the baka so upset." Marco watched her continue to chuckle for a few more seconds before wiping under her eyes and looking back at Pops with a wide grin. "It's up to that idiot over there." She pointed to the now bandaged and still unconscious Ace. "I go wherever he goes. No ifs, buts or maybes." She chuckled some more. "But I do look forward to you trying to convince him to join you," She stood up and Marco got to his feet too, watching her as she brushed the dirt off her ripped shin tight jeans while still slightly chuckling "he's a stubborn as they come and it should provide me with hours of entertainment."

Marco's impassive expression failed him for the moment and he actually raised a quizzical brow. What exactly was the blondes relationship to the black haired pirate captain?

"What's your name brat?" Marco was just as curious as his captain for that answer.

"The names Ann, Sir. Portgas D Ann." She said with a wide grin before she walked off towards where the members of her crew laid, some of which were coming round to consciousness. "Now that I know you're not going to hurt my twin you'll get no trouble from me." She threw over her shoulder.

Portgas D Ann... Portgas D Ace... Marco was still trying get the information through his head. She was Ace's twin? They'd never seen a wanted poster of the women and even when the newspaper had been reporting that the world government was offering the rookie a place in the ranks of the Shichibukai there hadn't been any mention of a sibling... let alone a twin sister.

He found himself momentarily watching her heart shaped arse as her hips swung in a mesmerising manner while the heels of her knee high sea boots clapped against the deck as she walked over to one of her awake crew mates.

"I like that one. She's got spunk." His stupor was broken as Thatch slung his arm over Marcos shoulders. "But how the hell are both of them fire type Logias?" There was no doubt that they possessed the same abilities, the only other fire type user Marco knew of was that asshole marine. But that was lava and not fire, which both Ace and Ann definitely used.

"Why don't you go ask her, yoi." He pushed Thatch's arm off his shoulder and then pointed to the strange cowboy hat and red cloth that the ginger still held. "You can give those back to her while you're at it."

Thatch had a knack for getting people to drop their guard and he had a feeling that the normally prank happy idiots easy nature would come in handy this time. Not just with getting the information out of the blonde on how both her and Ace possessed the same devil fruit, but when it came to convincing the blondes volatile brother to stay.

Because Marco really wanted the interesting pair to stay.

* * *

"Where's Captain." I sat my sore arse down next to Roman with a groan. Ok my arse didn't hurt as much as my guts did. How in the hell had the old coot hit me while I'd been fire? Id seen no frigging Kairoseki, just Whitebeards fist and arm turning a blacky-purple colour seconds before he'd thumped me.

"He's unconscious and getting his injuries taken care of." I lifted my shirts back up and winced at the dark bruise that covered most of my abdomen. "It's going to be hilarious when he wakes up. I wish I could go get my camera from our ship so I could document what he does... maybe make him a commemorative scrapbook."

Beside me Roman groaned, he knew how much I liked to torment Ace when I thought he'd acted like a moron. "You're such a lovely sister."

"His fault, look at what I got from trying to rescue his stupid ass." I laid down and pulled the shirts further up, exposing more of the tender flesh.

"That looks like it hurts"

I looked up to see a ginger haired man with a goatee grinning at me while holding my twins beloved hat. "No... it feels like the greatest pleasure I've ever had." I drawled "I'm practically orgasming from it."

Roman snorted beside me, he was used to my sarcasm, but the ginger pirate wasn't. He spluttered and blushed, causing me to laugh which turned into one of those laughing whimpers as pain lanced through my stomach. "What the fuck did he hit me with?" I groaned while clutching my gut.

"Busoshoku Haki." He simply said as if I should know exactly what that was.

"And what the fuck is Bous... Bush... fucking Haki?" I managed to get out, completely giving up on trying to pronounce the first word.

"Something a rookie like you probably hasn't encountered yet." The ginger came and sat down on the other side of me, handing me Ace's hat as he did so. "Here, I thought you'd want your hat and this back. They seemed pretty important to you."

"It's my dumbass twins hat." I lifted my head to glare at Ace as I stuffed my bandanna into my pocket, but he was no longer on deck and I sort of panicked a bit.

"They moved him to one of the spare room towards the back of the ship. Pops has a feeling that he won't be that friendly when he wakes up." A man with a top hat and the most ridiculous moustache I'd ever seen informed me as he sat with us. "I'm Vista by the way, I see Thatch has already introduced his annoying self."

I snorted at Vistas comment about my brother as the man he'd called Thatch protested that he was about to introduce himself as I laid my head back down. They had no idea how bratty Ace could truly be but they were about to find out. "I'd burn this ugly thing to ash as payback for the mess he's put us in if not for the fact that it was a very dear present."

"Speaking of fire..." I looked at the ginger "How are you both users of the same fruit?"

I groaned, well the cat was out of the bag now so to speak so I might as well tell them. "Because my very special sibling decided that we should see if sharing a devil fruit was possible and hey presto we both ended up as fire Logias. No I have no idea how" I stated before they had a chance to ask "only that if the world government knew we'd be hunted for reasons besides the fact that we're pirates. And we have enough shit to worry about already."

"Like what?"

"Like none of your business Mr Thatch." He didn't get offended at my words, only laughed. It wasn't only my secret to tell so I'd keep my mouth shut on the subject.

"Have any of yous got a camera?" I asked to change the subject.

Thatch looked at me with curiosity "Why?"

"Because my guts hurt too much to go get mine and I want to document Ace's inevitable temper tantrum." I groaned once more at the pain.

"I'll give you mine but first you're coming with me to see one of the doctors. Pops hits pretty hard." Well that was a fucking understatement. I nodded at Thatch, letting him help pull me to my feet. I didn't get far before I turned and dashed over to the closest railing and vomited over the side of the ship. Ace was definitely going to pay for this.

I felt a gentle hand rubbing circles on my back and looked over my shoulder to see Thatch's concerned face as I heaved and moaned in misery. "Common, after you see the doctors I'll take you to your brother's room."

My arm ended up over Thatch's shoulders and his arm around my waist as I leaned on him heavily and practically let him carry me to where I presumed was medical aid. "Hell no, you lot kidnapped him, you get to deal with the fallout."

About half an hour later I didn't have to worry about the possibility of having to deal with my pissy sibling when he woke up seeing as a man called Curiel and one who was literally called Doc and was a doctor - irony - informed me that the Old Man's punch had ruptured my appendix and they needed to remove it.

I'd been out like a light seconds after Doc finished putting the strong aesthetic in my system.

Ace was definitely going to fucking pay for this.

* * *

"Thatch..." Marcos normally calm demeanour had crumbled slightly after the ginger had barged into Pops room while Marco had been discussing with the Old Man what they were going to do with the Spade Pirates ship and mumbled something about Ann before just standing in the doorway fiddling with his hands. "Just spit it out already yoi."

"Well... you see..." Marco was about to yell at the idiot when his next words came out in such a fast jumbled mess that Marco almost couldn't understand him. "WhenPopshitAnnwithhisHakiherupturedherappendixandnowDochastoremoveitbeforeitexplodesandkillsher." Thatch mouthed the word boom while trying to imitate an explosion with his hands.

Marco blinked a few times as the words sunk in before turning a concerned gaze to the silent Man in the corner of the room. Bumps, cuts and bruises like the Old Man had given Ace were one thing but Pops had never liked inflicting any true damage on the people he considered family. And Marco could see that the Pirate considered the twins family already, no matter what the pair said.

"Will the brat be alright?" He could hear the strain in Oyaji's voice.

"Well she was well enough to laugh at me and tell me to have fun informing her sibling of this when he asks where she is. Said Ace would probably go homicidal over it and to take pictures." Thatch said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. Ann was certainly taking this better than Ace. "She also told me to tell you Pops, and I quote 'this is all my dumbass twins fault so don't blame yourself or I'll come up here and kick your arse after I'm done with my idiot brothers'."

Marco grinned as Pops laughed.

"That cheeky brat." Marco could tell that the Old Man still felt guilty over the fact the he'd unknowingly seriously injured Ann, but her words had managed to lessen his guilt and make the Yonko laugh.

Marco liked the female pirate already.

* * *

 **Who do you think tells Ace about Ann?**

* * *

 **I had to do it... -.- I had to write another of these god damn headache inducing stories... This one was prompted by a fanfic pic I saw of Ace and 'Ann' standing back to back (although she had black hair which I chose not to do because I didn't need them to be too similar)**

* * *

 **As Always Enjoy**

 **Xhex xoxo**


	2. The Scary Irony

"Forgetting is like a wound. The wound may heal but it has already left a scar."

\- Monkey D Luffy -

* * *

"There you are Thatch." Marcos eyes wandered over to the women lying in the hospital bed beside the seated ginger. "How long have you been here yoi?"

"Well I brought her this a while ago," Marco saw the camera as Thatch lifted it up to show him "she wasn't awake so I thought I'd wait for her to wake up and ask her if she wanted something for breakfast."

It didn't surprise Marco that Thatch had come here early this morning actually, he could still remember when Haruta had joined the crew - a pissed off teenager who'd just lost both his parents to the Marines and wanted nothing more than vengeance - and Thatch had practically mother henned the kid. The ginger had sat in here with Ann last night after her surgery as well, only going to his own room when he'd fallen asleep and Maybelle, the head nurse, had forced him to go to bed.

Most of her crew had wanted to go see her or stay in her room but Maybelle put a stop to that as well. However Marco knew the no nonsense women had made an exception for Pops. Marco also knew that the Old Man had sat with the little blonde for a while until going to bed himself, the Yonko's mood seeming to lift slightly now that he'd seen that the women was ok.

"I need you to go check on Ace, yoi. Make sure he's not up to something."

The ginger had always had a big heart and that was precisely why Marco wanted him to be the one to talk to Ace first. Thatch had been mostly responsible for Haruta's change in demeanour so Marco held high hopes that the fourth division commander could get through to this angry teenager too.

"All the idiots thinking is that if he takes Whitebeards head he'll prove he's better tha..." The mumbled words came from the person in the bed and both men's attention shifted to the women as her voice trailed off and she groaned. "He won't try to hurt anyone else unless they attack him."

Marco watched her as she moved her hands up to rub her eyes and push her hair out of her face. "You're awake yoi."

"Well it's hard to sleep with you two talking." She groaned as she attempted to sit up.

"Don't try to sit up. You have sixteen stitches in you lower abdomen." Thatch scolded the women who surprisingly went back to laying back down without protest.

"So why does your brother want the Old Man's head yoi?" It wasn't uncommon for pirates who wanted to make a name for themselves to come after Whitebeard but something in the blondes words and tone told Marco there was more too it.

"Because he's an idiot who's hung up on shit he can't change." She looked over at the two of them, her gaze startlingly fierce. "And that all I'll say on the matter. It's not my reason to tell, if you want to know go weedle it out of the flamebrain."

Thatch snorted a laugh and Marco struggled to keep the normally impassive look on his face. She'd just unknowingly given Thatch a new nickname for Ace.

"Hey Thatch..." the cook returned his attention to Ann at the question in her tone.

"What's up little firecracker." Marco almost groaned at the nickname... almost. Thatch was so unoriginal.

"You'll take the photos for me wont you? Cause once that twit figures out I'm in here he's going to lose his shit and go after your Captain even though its Ace's bloody fault I'm here." Marco still found it amusing that she didn't blame the Old Man at all for her injuries, she seemed almost protective towards Pops in the way that she warned them about her brother.

"Ok I'll go see about our other guest, Marco you get our soon to be family member something to eat." Thatch said while flipping the small Polaroid around in his hands while grinning at Marco. And that was why he was getting Thatch to help with Ace, the man had boundless optimism.

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch there Thatch. Ace has a pretty big chip on his shoulder." Thatch burst out laughing.

This time Marco did groan, knowing exactly what had set the idiot off. "Don't even say it Thatch." He warned the ginger "Now get your arse going yoi, unless you want to be in the hospital bed across the room from Ann here." He threatened and it had the desired effect as Thatch left a few seconds later while still laughing.

* * *

Ok, now I was damn curious. What the hell had I said to make Thatch laugh like a maniac and make Marco - I knew who the pirate was from the moment I'd realised who I'd tried to punch last night. Any pirate worth their salt knew of Marco the Phoenix, first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates - threaten bodily harm to his fellow crew member?

"Alright spill, what did I say?"

He gave me the most impassive look but I swore I saw the corner of his eye twitch. "Nothing yoi. What do you want for breakfast?"

Instead of answering that question I decided to annoy him because he refused to answer me. "That's a cute little tick you have there." As his eyes narrowed I knew I'd successfully gotten under his skin, breaking his irritatingly impassive demeanour.

But when it seemed that he was going to cut my fun short as he turned and made for the door I just had to open my mouth again. "Hey," As he looked over his shoulder I went for broke "does your speech tick come out during sex?" I couldn't decide at the moment if that would be hilarious or strangely sexy.

I expected him to blush and stutter like Thatch had... what I got instead was a very devious smirk that had my stomach doing flips as he walked back over to my bed and leant over me so he was insufferably close, caging me in while he looked at me with half lidded eyes. "Want to find out yoi?" He drawled.

Shit... I knew my face had gone bright fucking red. It felt like it was on fire...

"Well that's interesting yoi." I opened my eyes that I hadn't even realised I'd screwed shut to see that, yes, my face was in fact on fire.

My eyes went wide with panic.

What stopped me from freaking right out over my apparent loss of control however was that Marco hadn't pulled away from my flames. In fact blue ones were running over his own skin, just like last night, and they were once again mixing with my red ones and his bright blue eyes were taking in every detail of how our flames were practically caressing each other. But then I remembered that fire destroys things and I tried to pull away from him and started to panic more as I realised that I was trapped between my pillow and his obnoxious flame coated face.

My fear must have shown because in the next instant he pulled away from me with a frown and muttered "I best go get you breakfast, yoi." before he turned around and left the room.

All I could do was just sit there and blink... what the fuck had just happened? I'd never lost control of my fire before. I always kept a tight lid on it, using it only when I absolutely had to.

I sat there in a stupor for a while until someone knocked on the rooms door and I breathed a sigh of relief as I realised it wasn't the frustrating blonde but Curiel, who I'd found out last night was not only a medic but also a division commander. Tenth I was pretty sure.

"How are you feeling this morning Ann?"

"Like some maniac played with my insides last night..." I grinned at him as he came closer.

"Don't let Doc hear you call him that." He mock scolded me while he picked up a clip board with paper attached to it - more than likely my medical notes - and jotted down a few things before he moved to the side of my bed. "Are you ok for me to check your stitches?"

I nodded and pushed the blanket off of me, revealing the baggy long sleeved shirt and loose pants that I was dressed in. I didn't care who they belonged to, all I cared about was that they were clean.

Lifting up my shirt I looked down at the white bandage that was around my abdomen while Curiel began to cut it off and then I laughed, which once again turned into a pained hiss as my insides screamed at me, as my now orange stomach and the neat row of stitches just above my hip bone were revealed.

I looked like I'd stayed outside in the sun too long tanning. My normally toned and flat stomach was also quite puffy and still very much bruised and tender. And Curiel proved that point when he applied a square bandage to the wound and pushed down lightly so the tape would stick to my skin. "Mother fucker!" I hissed at no one in particular.

"Is it safe to come in yoi?" I heard an all too familiar voice question before Marco just walked back into the room anyway, a bowl in one hand and a glass of juice in the other.

"If you're not even going to wait for an answer why the hell bother asking?" I rolled my eyes at him and pulled down my shirt.

"Exactly Ann." He purposely added an extra bit of drawl to the way he normally said my name and I felt my ears heat at the sound. "People shouldn't ask questions if they don't care for the answer." I heard the humour in his voice as he handed me my food after Curiel helped me sit up. I swore that if my face fucking caught fire at that moment I'd march - hobble - my arse out onto the main deck and throw myself in the bloody ocean.

Thankfully it didn't... this time.

I was halfway through my breakfast of porridge and orange juice when I heard the distinct sound of Ace yelling my name in panic. Groaning I looked at Marco who was the only one still in the room. Curiel having left a few minutes ago, telling me quite sternly to take it easy. "Someone better bring him here before he sets fire to the frigging ship to find me."

Marco got up , a board expression on his face, and left. A few minutes later Ace was pushing into the room, Thatch and Marco right behind him but they didn't move any further into the room as my relived looking brother rushed over to the bed and wrapped his arms around me.

"Baka! You almost made me spill my food." I scolded him. He really got my attention when he didn't try to steal it off me like he normally would have. Instead he buried his face in my hair. "Oi Ace, what's wrong?"

"He said you almost died." I heard his mumbled response even through my hair. I glared over Ace's head at Thatch. Greet, now his attitude towards Whitebeard was going to be ten times worse.

"I only had my appendix removed, not brain surgery." I tried to soothe him.

"I'm going to take the bastards head." He said firmly before he pulled away from me and storming out of the room, almost pushing Thatch over.

"Oi, common Ace. Not this shit again!" I yell after him. But it was no use, he was already gone. "Damn it Thatch!" I growled at the ginger "Unless I'm truly fucking dead, never ever say something like that to him." I rubbed the bridge of my nose in irritation. "Now go get my dam pictures because he's about to do something stupid."

* * *

There was no doubting that Fire Fist truly cared for his twin.

Thatch had told Marco that the teen had been in an utter panic when Thatch had informed the flame Logia that they'd defeated his crew and his sister was in the infirmary because she'd almost died trying to rescue Ace from their Old Man.

Even Marco had groaned when Thatch had told him what he'd told Ace. And seeing the way he'd embraced his smaller sibling had made it all too clear how worried the hothead had been about her. It was exactly how Marco would feel if something were to happen to one of his family members.

And there was no denying how much Ann cared for her sibling. Marco had seen the genuine pain in her eyes as Ace had abruptly left the room before she covered it with her annoyance at Thatch.

Marco was alone in the infirmary with Ann once again and he moved over to the seat next to her bed as he watched her count on her fingers, starting with a closed fist and raising one finger at a time slowly, while she rubbed her face with her other hand.

Just as she raised the last digit a huge crash sounded from outside and she sighed heavily. "Bloody idiot."

They sat in silence and Marco watched Ann as she rubbed her temples while mumbling about the stupidity of her siblings and how much of a headache they could be.

That statement caught his attention; she'd just talked in the plural sense.

But before he could ask about this other sibling - or siblings as could be very possibly be the case he realised - and why she'd reacted with fear to his Phoenix fire before Thatch walked back into the room grinning and waving around a handful of photos followed closely by a dark skinned man with long dreadlocks held back in a ponytail. The man closely resembled Rakuyo in both height and build. Marco had learned that Roman was the quartermaster of the Spade Pirates and if it wasn't for his skin and hair colour Marco would swear the young pirate was the seventh division commanders long lost brother.

Marco had met the rest of Ace's crew last night and had supervised the lot of them as they'd moved everything from their ship to Moby's store room before Haruta and the rest of the shipwrights went to work salvaging the smaller ship.

Pops had made his decision last night and with both their crews Captain and First Mate out of commission Marco had had to go to the next person in charge, which was Roman, to make sure the rest of the Spade Pirates toed the line and didn't try anything stupid.

He had a feeling that Roman would go wherever the twins went and wanted to know what the man's relationship was to their crews First Mate. Because when Marco had tried to go into the room that he'd figured out was Ann's the large man had practically stood in front of the door, glaring and not budging an inch until Marco left, and then proceeded to pack all her stuff up personally. Later when Marco had stuck his head into the barren room that Roman was carrying the last trunk out of, the man had offhandedly said that the First Mate was a very private person who only allowed those she considered her family into her personal space and Marco should respect that if he wanted the blonde to hopefully join his crew.

"I bring spoils from above!" Thatch announced before placing the photographs in Ann's lap.

Leaning over the side of her bed Marco looked at the photos as Ann picked them up and shuffled through them, actually raising his eyebrows at the one Ann began to laugh over. It was of Ace... well of his arse in the air anyway as he tried to pull his head out of where it had gone through part Moby's solid section of railing and obviously gotten stuck. Like one of those animals that got their heads stuck in logs and tree holes.

Ann continued to laugh at the photo until she hissed in a pained breath while she clutched her stomach "Ohhhh please tell me you got a photo of the other side."

Marco watched Thatch grin like an idiot before producing one last photo from behind his back with an exaggerated flourish, handing it to the blonde who completely lost it over it. She dropped it in favour of wrapping her arms around her stomach and hollering "Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow." while still laughing even though it obviously pained her.

Marco had to admit that it was indeed funny as he got a good look at it. In this one only Ace's head was visible, but what made it hilarious was the brats facial expression. His cheeks were bright red and puffed out, eyes clenched shut and his ears stuck out on either side of his head comically as they prevented him from pulling his head back through the solid piece of wood his head had made a hole in. He looked like a child throwing a temper tantrum crossed with a stuck cat.

"Oh my god," Marco looked back to Ann as she tried to get a handle on her laughter "he used to pull that face when we were kids and he didn't get his own way."

"I can't believe you roped other people into helping you." Marco watched Ann's crew mate come over and sit down on the end of her bed. His words and tone sounded scolding but Marco could see the humour in his eyes as he too looked at the pictures in Ann's lap. The quartermaster didn't know yet how easy it was to convince the fourth division commander to help in something that would ultimately embarrass or scare the shit out of another crew member. Marco did, so he hadn't been surprised to learn that Thatch was taking photos of Ace for Ann. The ginger had found a kindred spirit. "Here," Roman continued as he lifted two, single strapped, green backpacks with black stripes up and onto the bed, sitting them down on Ann's legs "I got these from the ship before we left. The rest of your stuff is in your footlocker and chests in their storage room."

* * *

Romans words snapped me out of my amusement and I swung my gaze to Marco "What the fuck did you lot do with our ship?"

"Dismantled it for parts yoi." Was he serious? We'd worked long and hard to steel that fucking ship and I'd put hours of work into decorating my room and... shit, my worried gaze shot to Roman.

"Tell me you packed all my pictures and books?"

"Yeah I packed them all up for you but I'd figure you'd probably want these ones." He handed over the two pieces I kept in my 'treasure draw' and I practically sighed in relief as I looked them over for damage.

One was a photo from when I was a kid, my three brothers and I grinning at the camera. Gramps had taken the photo on one of the rare occasions he'd decided to visit us. There was one similar to it, tucked away under a panel in my personal footlocker, where the Old Fart was hugging the four of us but I didn't dare keep it out in case people figured out that the man was Garp, Hero of the Marines. What a shit storm that would be.

The other was something I'd sketched just before Ace and I had left Dawn Island. We'd taken Luffy out fishing and as Ace and him had sat on the cliff side overlooking the ocean while their lines dangled down in front of them, I'd sat behind them against a tree and sketched the peaceful moment with the water colours that Macino had brought me.

And not to toot my own horn, but I was a pretty decent artist. Even the crabby old Dedan had said it looked almost like a photograph.

"Who drew that yoi?"

I looked from the picture in my hands to Marco, smiling broadly as I stated with no small amount of pride "Me!"

"Ann here drew all the pictures that you saw hanging around the place last night. I'd never seen such colourful log books quite like the ones she keeps before joining Ace's crew." I grinned at Roman. Those log books held sketches and photos of crew members when they'd joined, strange people we'd encountered, fauna and flora of the places we'd visited, landscapes and basically anything I thought to include in the books that made them more like story books instead of just plain stuffy old log books.

I'd even had to pry the books away from the crew a time or two because they actually enjoyed reading them and laughing at the pictures that accompanied the stories. I knew they glossed over all the 'boring crap' as they called it.

My personal albums had sketches from all the way back at Dawn Island, Foosha Village and the Bandits Hideout. Those ones I kept to myself, not even letting Ace see them. Rare moments where I'd caught Dedan being sweet to the boys. Sitting around the campfire with Gramps. Makino cuddling Luffy when he'd been sick. Mayor Whoopslap chasing my brothers through town. Ace, Sabo and Luffy standing over their crocodile haul when the boys had gone on a rampage after one had tried to eat Luffy. Stuff that made me remember the good parts of my childhood and helped to keep away the pain.

There was one book dedicated just to Sabo. I'd spent weeks after his death drawing every single image my mind could manifest of him, afraid that if I didn't get them on paper they may one day fade. And I never wanted to forget him. I'd let Luffy see that one, hoping to cheer him up because all he could do was cry as he'd sat with me while I'd healed, saying the whole thing was his fault. Luffy had cried, Ace had taken his anger out on the jungle and I'd kept my pain on the inside, wanting to be strong for the both of them.

"All of those pictures were yours, yoi?" I looked at Marco as his question drew me away from thoughts of the past and I grinned at him.

"Yeah and I plan on adding these to the new book I got at the last Island when I get a chance to go find it." I held up the pictures as thoughts of how I'd arrange them started going through my mind. I also had the ones of Ace fighting Jinbi.

"Yeah but first you should go have a shower, you stink." I glared at Roman as Thatch laughed. "And maybe when you're feeling better you can convince Ace to go do the same because he's told at least twenty different people in the hour he was out of that cabin this morning to fuck off when they tried to talk to him. Including me."

"Nope!" I stubbornly crossed my arms over my chest as Roman tried to protest. "They kidnapped him" I gestured to the two commanders in the room "His bad attitude is their problem. I'm still pissed off at him." Roman threw his hands in the air and called me a stubborn jackarse. He knew I could be just as stubborn as Ace... actually I could be worse.

"Ok, ok." I relented under Roman's constant glare "If he's still being an arse tomorrow I'll intervene."

"Thank you." I rolled my eyes, mouthing 'Pussy' at him.

"But I will have that shower." I grabbed my green bag - yes Ace and I had the same backpack. Except mine had a good luck charm on its strap that Makino had given me - and started to dig through its contents. Pausing to ask "If that's cool with you guys that is?" when Roman smacked my leg.

When Thatch nodded I began to root through my bag again and groaned when I didn't find the smaller purple bag that I normally kept inside it.

"What's wrong yoi?"

"I think I left my toiletries bag at the last island we stopped at because of Ace's antics on the last day." I mumbled as I looked again, hoping that it'd maybe just appear like magic.

I'd just tipped the contents of my bag out onto the bed in front of me when Thatch piped up "It's ok, the nurses stock the infirmaries bathroom cupboard with the essentials." I looked at the ginger leaning against the room's door in relief, I may be a pirate but that didn't mean I had to smell like one of the boys.

My gaze swung sharply back to the contents of my bag when I noticed a tanned hand quickly grab something.

Following the retreating limb I found Marcos smirking face looking at the item he'd stolen off of me. "So that question you asked me before..." I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment along with anger as Marco held the black scrap of lace out in front of himself while he smirked at me.

I'd brought the racey black panties and it's matching bra - thank god that hadn't spilled out onto the top of the pile too - at the last island we'd went to, completely forgetting to take them out of my backpack because as soon as I'd gotten back to the ship Ace had been going on about Whitebeard being in the area.

"Give them back you pineapple headed pervert!" I seethed.

As Thatch laughed while Marco glared in his direction for whatever reason, pulling the items further out of my reach as he swung them around. I felt my temper go through the roof and it wasn't until Roman grabbed my leg that I realised I had flames flickering on my shoulders.

To say I panicked was an understatement... especially as the red flames spread down my left arm. In the back of my mind I knew that my reaction was irrational but I couldn't help but swat desperately at the fire until it went away, closing my eyes and taking a steadying breath as it finally receded.

"Oi Ann," I felt Romans hand squeeze my calf as he spoke "They're out, you're okay." I opened my eyes and looked into his concerned dark brown ones. Roman had been with Ace and I since a month into our journey and I'd basically adopted the twenty year old as my other big brother, so of course he knew why I'd freaked out.

"Are you o-"

"Get. The. Fuck. Out!" I turned to glare at Marco, cutting him off mid-sentence and punctuating each word as my tone seethed with venom.

I continued to glare at him until he left, returning the stolen goods, and then I just let myself collapse back onto the bed, hissing in pain at the stupid move and cursing the stupid pineapple headed asshole. His hair really did look like the leaves of a frigging pineapple and I was surprised it took me getting angry to notice.

How dare he make me lose control of my fire again.

* * *

 **How long do you thing it will be before Ann talks to Marco again? And which commander will she meet next?**

* * *

 **sousie: Thankyou**

 **Sakiraa-chan: It bothered me too until I realised it bothered me more to have her have a different or slightly similar DF or none at all. That's the wonders of fanfiction 😆**

 **Guest: Cheers**

* * *

 **As Always Enjoy**

 **Xhex xoxo**


	3. The Insightful Sibling

"I am crazy and stubborn."

\- Franky -

* * *

"You really put your foot in it this time birdbrain." Marco felt his eye tick at the irritating nickname from Thatch.

Looking over from his deck he watched the ginger enter his room and make his way over to Marcos bed, proceeding to sprawl across it like he did every time something was bothering the normally jovial commander and he wanted to talk to Marco about it.

Putting his pen down on the stack of reports on his desk Marco turned in his chair to look at his brother with a sigh. "How bad, yoi?"

"Well, after she stopped cursing your name and suggesting places to shove a certain spiky fruit, Roman managed to get her to at least promise she wasn't going to eviscerate you next time she saw you." Marco actually swallowed audibly at that, glaring at Thatch when the idiot chuckled. "He helped her to the bathroom and then we went to go retrieve some things from her personal footlocker that she asked for. Roman also said that she'd probably calm down soon but for future reference she hates people she doesn't know touching her stuff... which he apparently warned you about last night." Thatch didn't have to sound so smug and authoritative Marco thought. He screwed up this once, he got it.

Groaning in exasperation, Marco flopped his head back against the top of his chair. He hadn't had a female this pissed off at him since the incident with Whitey Bay. He'd copped the blame for something that had been entirely Thatch and Jirus fault. It had taken years for the Ice Witch to get over it and it was still considered a taboo subject among both crews too this day.

"You should be counting your lucky stars that unlike her twin, Ann apparently listens to Roman sometimes." Marco snorted, wondering once again what the relationship between the Spade Pirates brazen First Mate and Quartermaster was.

"Speaking of her sibling yoi, what's Ace up to?"

"Well, when he finally manage to get free of the railing that Pops put him through earlier by burning the damn thing, which has pissed Haruta off to no end, he sequester himself in the room Jozu put him in last night, telling everyone who knocks on the door to fuck off." That didn't surprise Marco one bit considering how hot tempered the young pirate was.

There was a peaceful silence for a period of time, until Thatch quietly uttered "Did you catch how she freaked out over her own fire?"

Marco rolled his head until he could see his brother, noting the pensive expression on the gingers face as he stared at the ceiling. So that's what was currently bothering Thatch and what he'd really come in here to talk about Marco thought. He'd been thinking about the same thing for a while as well but hadn't said anything because he'd originally thought that she'd panicked due to his own blue flames and he didn't want his siblings stirring him over it.

Except the last time she'd definitely flipped out over her own fire, which was the most absurd thing for a Logia whose element was fire to do.

"I tried to ask Roman about it while he was getting some of her things out of storage but he just said she was probably tired or still being affected by the pain medication Doc had given her." The gingers face was set in a serious frown and Marco could see the genuine concern his brother held for Ann.

Marco didn't buy Roman's excuse one bit and he doubted Thatch did either. "Give her time brother, she'll eventually trust you enough to talk to you if she actually has a problem."

Thatch just grunted in reply, probably remembering how long it had taken to get Haruta to warm up to him.

A few minutes later Marco went back to his paperwork as the sound of Thatch's light snoring filled the room, more than content to just let his brother sleep on his bed and catch up on the rest the ginger obviously needed while he finished going through the quarterly reports from each division.

* * *

Asshole... expressionless asshole... pineapple headed expressionless asshole...

"You're mumbling."

"Shut it Ro." I grumbled back at the irritating pirate and he chuckled while I finished graffiting on the photos of Ace stuck in the ships railing. Except I was starting to get frustrated with what I was doing, half because of what had happened earlier this morning and half because I was wondering how full the book would be before Ace made a choice on whether to accept Whitebeards offer or leave; because even I knew there was no way he could take down the powerful Yonko, so before my anger got the better of me I put the book down in case I did something I'd regret.

I raised my face to the warmth of midday sun as I lounged on deck with Roman, leaning up against the base of the ships main mast while he supposedly napped beside me, tuning out the other pirates that were mulling around on deck. I'd refused to go back to the infirmary after my shower; I wanted sunshine and sea breeze, not a stuffy room.

Taking a deep breath to clear my head I looked over to my latest half full personal sketch book and picked the thing up, deciding to draw the object of my current frustration in an attempt to release some of my anger.

I was halfway through colour rendering when I heard an amused snicker from behind me and swung my gaze up and around to see a man - and yes I did do a double take - in not just a kimono but full geisha makeup, holding a fan to his face while amusement danced in his eyes as he looked at the sketch of the irritating first division commander with a pineapple for a head and a big bold 'YOI' in a huge speech bubble above him.

Slamming my work closed I glared at the pirate, who didn't seem at all fazed by my hostility. "No need for that hun, I was just admiring." He laughed at my continued glare.

"It's ok Izo, unlike Ace who gets obsessive over things, Ann here gets possessive. Especially over her personal sketch books, which she doesn't let anyone look in." My gaze shifted to glare at the pirate who was laying flat on his back next to me with his eyes closed. When one of his eyes lazily cracked open and he grinned while looking at me I glared even harder... that was until someone sat down on the other side of me suddenly and I yelped.

"That is really good, some of the best artwork I've ever seen." I swung my irritated gaze back to the cross-dresser, looking at him as his kohl rimmed eyes raked over the sketch at my feet. "They look so adorable. Wait... is that?... oh my god it is!" he held the fan up to his painted lips and snickered as he saw all the details of the painting.

I huffed a sigh, mumble a "Thanks" and relented with my glaring, actually switching to a wide grin. I couldn't really be angry with the pirate when he'd complemented my drawing and saw exactly what I was aiming for with the picture.

"I'm Izo by the way, sixteenth division commander." He looked up at me and smiled warmly. "I didn't get a chance to meet you last night, instead I met your crew mate here who wouldn't divulge a single ounce of information about you." The last part he said with a slight pout that made me chuckle.

"I guess I was a bit busy hey. And good luck ever getting anything out Roman, it took me a solid month of weedeling just to learn which sea he hailed from." I laughed and then winced, grabbing for my stomach. "For fuck sake, when will this stop hurting?"

"Told you you should've gone back to the infirmary." Roman drawled.

"Shut up Ro, between Ace's stupidity and your incessant nagging for me to go back to that bland ass room I am already over today."

"Are you sure you and Ace are twins?"

Before I could answer Izo Roman chimed in "Trust me, they're twins. They have a few hilariously opposite characteristics but they're both stubborn as hell and have that fiery temper when the right buttons are pushed. And if you get the pair side-by-side there's no mistaking that they're related. Especially with those freckled cheeks of theirs." I clenched my teeth and glared at the normally tight lipped Roman. So much for having to pry information out of him. Then he opened both his eyes and turned his curious gaze on me while arching a dark brow "Except Ace is the one who normally gets so easily embarrassed, so what question from before was Marco referring to that got you so frigging red in the face?"

"Nothing!" I bit back, feeling my ears heat. I was thankful that my bandanna and hair were currently covering them.

"Ohhhh, so you're the reason Marco's more broody than usual." Why the hell did Izo sound so... gleeful.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, if that pervert is in a shitty moody it's his own fault." I heard Izo chuckle while Roman looked at me sideways.

"Seriously, I've seen men in bars ask you straight out if they could take you upstairs and fuck your brains out and you didn't bat and eye at that, but Marco holds up your underwear and you were as red as a tomato." I opened my mouth to say something but he kept going "And before you try some bullshit about being embarrassed over him touching your undies I'll remind you of that time Cruz pinched all your knickers and pined them to the ships sail, spelling out the words 'Panty Pirates' and all you did was laugh while Ace was the one to turn bright red. Or how every single member of our crew has washed your clothes at one time or another. So what gives?"

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, which gave the bastard time to keep theorizing on my behaviour. He knew exactly why I'd gotten pissed off, just not why I'd gotten embarrassed. "Unless it's like what happened at Cape May?" I felt my cheeks tingle and saw the bastards grin widen. "Ohhh you've got a cru-" His words were cut off when I leapt at him, smothering his head with my chest to prevent him from saying anything else.

And what a stupid fucking thing that was for me to do.

I didn't even try to bite back my scream of pain, letting the high pitched holler come out as I rolled off my insufferably astute brother so I could curl up in a protective ball on the deck. Hoping that if I babied my stomach maybe it would stop feeling like I was being stabbed in it.

No such luck.

I groaned miserably, hating everything in that moment. Stupid appendix... stupid big mouthed Roman... stupid pineapple headed pervert... stupid fucking Ace.

"I'll take her back to the infirmary, you pack her things up hun and go get Doc." I was in so much pain that I didn't even protest when Izo picked me up and began walking off with me.

I was vaguely aware of being laid down on something and then someone was unbuttoning my black blouse that I'd put on over the top of a purple tank top. The baggy black pants I'd left on because they were a lot looser than my jean short shorts that had been in my bag. "Damn hun, you've bled through the bandage and onto your shirts."

That cleared the pain fog out of my head and I opened to see the Geishas concerned face. "Here, I'll help you sit up and remove the shirts so they can go get washed." My eyes went wide and I managed to push Izo's hands away from me with a strangled groan. "Oh hun, you have nothing I'm interested in." He tsked, completely misinterpreting why I'd pushed him away. "Unless you'd rather wait for your boyfriend to get here to help you?" Oh if I wasn't in so much pain I would have broken down into fits of laughter over Izo thinking that Roman was my boyfriend. I wasn't willing to open my mouth to correct him though, not trusting myself to not laugh at the commander and cause myself more pain, so I just sat there holding the top of my blouse closed and stared Izo down until Doc walked into the infirmary, Roman right on his heels.

"Just when I start to think that maybe you young female pirates aren't as stupid as your male counterparts you go and prove me wrong." It was hard not to grin at Docs grumpy attitude. Harder when I was in so much pain.

I watched him mumble about the stupidity of the young while he went around the room collecting things from draws before coming to stand over at the side of my bed. Thankfully he noticed how I was holding my shirt and turned to Izo, shooing him and Roman out of the room even thought they tried to protest and closed the door on the bickering pair.

"You know, not one of our crew would judge you." I snorted as I began to gingerly pull my blouse off, followed by my tank top until I was sitting there in just my bra and pants.

"It's not the judgment that concerns me, it's the questions." I shrieked when he pulled the blood soaked bandage off my stomach, glaring at him as he smiled at me. He'd fucking done that on purpose and his next words confirmed it.

"Let that be a lesson to you on listening to your doctor's advice. I know Curiel would have told you to take it easy this morning when he came to check on you." His voice was stern but he still smiled at me as he wiped the combined antiseptic and aesthetic wash over my wound. Fucking sadist.

I hissed at the added burning sensation to the already throbbing pain in my abdomen before he began to fix the few stitches that had popped open. "I thought doctors were meant to be kind and caring, not try to inflict more pain on their patients?"

"I may be a doctor love, but I'm a pirate first and foremost. An old pirate," I winced as the needle went in and out of my skin and looked at the top of his greying head with a glare "who's gotten sick and tired of the younger ones thinking they know best."

"Ok, ok, I get it. I'm an idiot." I huffed as I simultaneously winced, at least I couldn't exactly feel the needle anymore. My pain was now more about how I'd aggravated my insides.

That caused him to chuckle and he looked up at me with amusement "There may be hope for you yet girly. At least you're able to admit when you've been stupid." I winced one last time as he put another bandage over the stitches before going about cleaning everything up.

Ten minutes later he came back over with a syringe filled with something that I eyed sceptically. "It's just something for the pain. You'll probably be out like a light until tomorrow, which hopefully will give your body a bit more time to heal before you do something stupid again." I glared at the older man who just laughed my reaction off.

"Before you give me that, would you be able to fish one of the long sleeved shirts out of my bag down there please?" I pleaded, not wanting to fall asleep in just a bra and have someone other than Roman, Ace or the two doctors walk in. Back on our former ship was another story, I slept in just my knickers; hating the feel of fabric against my upper torso. But here was a different story.

"I'm not gunna pry," Doc said as he grabbed both green bags, giving me a questioning look before I indicated which to go through. "But if you ever want to talk I'll listen."

I smiled at the doctor as he handed me one of the long sleeved shirts I'd pilfered off Ace ages ago when he'd given up wearing such things. Having an inbuilt heater came in handy. "There's nothing to talk about Doc." I grinned at the man before putting the shirt on. It was baggy around my arms and stomach but it did pull a bit tight across my chest, because unlike Ace I had boobs. Not huge ones but they were decently sized.

Doc just shook his head and sighed "Whatever you say love, now roll to your side a bit and pull the back of your dacks down." He burst out laughing when I gawked at him.

He wanted me to do what?

"The shot goes in your arse cheek, it gets into the system faster because of the higher blood flow in that muscle." He laughed at me some more while I grumbled about what an asshole I thought he was as I followed his instructions, yelping as the needle pricked my skin because he gave me no fucking warning that he was about to do it.

"God you're a mean old bastard." I mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah. Sticks and stones love. See you tomorrow." The last thing I heard was Doc chuckling.

* * *

"Just let me throw him into the sea once?!" Marco sighed at Haruta's growled words and looked to Thatch for help. The ginger wasn't really paying attention as something was whispered in his ear by a very amused looking Izo, making the fourth division commanders eyes go wide before his gaze swung to Marco who got a sinking feeling in his gut by the way the ginger and Izo were suddenly grinning at him.

Marco narrowed his eyes at Thatch and then shifted his gaze to Haruta, who was still cursing about how Ace had set fire to the ship, silently telling the ginger to help calm down the hot-tempered twelfth division commander. Vista and Fossa weren't having much luck with the raging brunet and Pops was just sitting at the head of rooms table, drinking his sake and watching the commanders meeting slowly go to hell.

It had all started because Blenheim and Rakuyo had started making bets over what their newest 'guest' would set fire to next while Blamenco and Atmos had laughed over the photo's that Thatch had passed to them showing Ace's latest 'must take Whitebeard's head' carnage.

"Give it a rest squirt!" Thatch finally chimed in drawing the brunets attention away from Blamenco as the rotund pirate hide the photo's that Haruta was trying to get his hands on inside the pockets that where on his neck. "He's a Logia and you haven't even gotten a handle on your Busoshoku Haki yet."

"So," Marco cut it, trying to get the meeting back to its original purpose "beside Fire Fist, how have the rest of the former spade pirates been yoi?"

A round of okay's, fine's, all good's and no problem's came from the other fourteen commanders and Marco relaxed a fraction. At least they had only one thing to worry about currently.

"Ann's back in the infirmary." All eyes turned to Izo at the commander's announcement. Marco looked to Curiel who nodded in confirmation of the Okamas words.

"What happened?" Everyone's attention shifted to the Old Man as he piped up for the first time since the start of the meeting. Marco knew that Pops still felt responsible for the little pirate's current predicament.

It had actually shocked Marco when the Old Man had invited Ann to be a part of the crew seeing as they'd been a predominantly all male crew for the past ten years, taking on no new female crew members until five years ago when Pops had finally caved to the combined fifteen division commanders demands for him to get a form of permanent medical help. Doc now handled the more pressing stuff while the nurse monitored the Old Man so the older doctor wasn't so overworked.

Still, even with the added addition of the ten nurses they only had a combined total of twenty women currently on the crew. Pop's claimed it was because not many women wanted to sail with such a high profile and constantly hunted crew but Marco thought it had more to do with how the Old Man just couldn't stand seeing the fairer sex harmed. The time that Kaido's forces had ambushed the former second division commander Heather and a good majority of his sisters ten years ago was a good example. The horrible death of eighty three daughters had almost broken the Old Man. That incident had also made all the male members of crew a tad overprotective of their few remaining sisters, to the point where Sibble had actually threatened to leave if they didn't ease up.

"She popped a few of her stitches open. Doc fixed her up and gave her some strong pain killers so she's currently out like a light in the infirmary." Curiel stated as he read through what Marco assumed was Ann's medical folder. When Thatch tried to look over the medics shoulder at the file the tenth division commander closed it and hit the snooping ginger with the manila folder. Unless the Doctors or nurses felt that Pops and the commanders need to know something that was written in those reports they were for the medical staff's eyes only. "Izo brought her in so he knows the why's of it."

"Her crew mate Roman; you know the one who looks like a darker version of Rakuyo here." Izo motioned to the seventh division commander and the rest began to snicker as they to saw the striking resemblance between the pair that Marco had noticed the other day. Izo studiously ignored the way that Rakuyo was glaring at him and continued "Well, he was stirring her about something Marco did to put the little blonde in a bad mood and she tried to smother him with her boobs." As the rest of the commanders laughed at Ann's antics, Thatch even mumbling 'what a way to be silenced' in a dreamy tone, Marco could feel the corner of his eye twitch as he looked at Izo.

Going by the way the sixteenth division commanders painted lips were pulled back in a smirk as he locked eyes with Marco's he could easily guess that Izo was up to his usual meddling ways, he just wasn't sure yet what exactly the Okamas angle was but it probably had something to do with the 'something Marco did' line that Izo had said while giving him a knowing look. In other words Marco was going to pay for his brothers silence.

A chorus of 'What did you do?' rang out and Marco momentarily let his normal impassive demeanour slip to roll his eyes at his brothers.

But before he could say that he'd done nothing Thatch butted in with "I don't know exactly everything that feather head did to piss Ann off but he did touch her panties like a real pervert and she got super angry over it." making Marco feel like putting the gingers head through the table as everyone except Izo laughed at him, the Geisha was too bust smacking a cowering Thatch over losing valuable leverage.

"Anybody have anything else to add yoi?" Marco groaned, ready to just have this meeting over and done with.

"I do." Marco glared at Thatch as the ginger piped up.

"Anything important yoi?" Marco looked to the rest of the commanders, pointedly ignoring Thatch.

"Oh common you grumpy blue chicken this is important." Marco sighed loudly and motioned for the ginger to continue, choosing to ignore the irritating nickname because the sooner this meeting was over the sooner he could lock himself in his room and finish those damn reports. "Well you've all probably seen me taking photos of Ace when he tries to attack Pops and the Old Man knocks the shit out of him." The rest of the commanders said 'yeah' in unison, except for Haruta who continued to piss and moan over how much of an asshole he thought fire fist was. "Simmer down squirt, help me with this and I guarantee you'll get your revenge against him."

That seemed to get Haruta's attention Marco thought as he watched the brunette stop cursing out Fire Fist to eye Thatch curiously. "What are you planning?"

"Alas it's not my idea, I'm just a mere accomplice to Ann's masterful plan." Marco rolled his eyes at the gingers theatrics. This meeting had really blown his normal emotional self restraint to hell. "I need people to take pictures of Ace when he goes on one of his 'must take Whitebeard's head' stints because I can't hang around Pop's all the time."

"So that's where she got these pictures from." Izo's statement drew everyone's attention back to the Okama as he pulled a book out of the folds of his Kimono and sat it open to a specific page on the table.

Marco was close enough that he could see the highly embellished pages that held a detailed drawing of a pine forest with little raccoons running around, but even his curiosity got the better of him and he stood up like the rest of his siblings who were currently crowding around Izo to get a closer look.

Both pages featured a singular pine tree as the central focus and the two photos that Marco had seen earlier this morning of Ace stuck in the ships railing had been cut and glued onto the two identically drawn trees. The top of the first page read 'Trying to blend in...' in big bold letters and featured the picture of Ace's arse with a drawn on raccoon tail. The second page held the picture of Ace's puffed out face which had been given the same mammalian features as the little creatures that dominated the page. The bottom of that page read '...and failing miserably!' in the same style as the first part.

On closer inspection Marco could see that some of the raccoons actually resembled members of the crew. There was one with a little tuft of blonde hair, another with a pompadour... ever one with a very distinct curved white moustache who happened to be a bit bigger than the rest.

His eyes moved to the small bit of writing in the second pages top right corner, a grin tugging at his lips as he read the words. 'Ace may have just learnt that even though he looks like a raccoon he is not yet ready to 'play' with the big raccoons!'

"Who does that belong to?" Marco looked to Blenheim as the large pirate asked the question, hearing the fascination in his voice.

Looking around at the rest of his brothers Marco noticed how all their gazes were currently glued to the life like drawing, he'd completely forgotten that only Thatch and him knew of Ann's artistic skills.

"It's Ann's!" Thatch stated as he grabbed the book and closed it, trying to keep it out of everyone's curious reach. "And I bet you she has no idea that you have it, does she you sticky fingered Okama?" Marco raised his eyebrows as he read what was printed in large block letters on the books front cover that was visible through Thatch's arms.

ACE'S GUIDE TO STUPIDITY ABOARD THE MOBYDICK

"Give it back you big idiot. I just borrowed it when Doc shoved Roman and I out of the infirmary earlier." Marco watched Izo claw at the Thatch's arms to get the book back that the ginger was trying desperately to cling to, going so far as to hit the cook with the fan that the sharp shooter kept in the red and black spotted sash that he always had tied around the waist of his kimono.

"And by borrowed you really mean stole." Thatch shifted to keep Izo from smacking him in the head.

"I didn't steal it, Roman said she only gets upset over her personal sketch books and she'd have no problem with me looking through this one. I just wanted to show Oyaji how talented Ann is. I've certainly never seen artwork of this quality before." That little bit of information put a stop to Thatch trying keep the book from Izo.

The ginger eyed the Okama for a few minutes before he sighed heavily and handed the book back to Izo.

Marco watched Izo as the commander got up and walked over to where Pops was sitting and handed the Old Man the book. The rest of the commanders began to laugh as they to saw what was written on the front cover as Oyaji held the book up and flipped it open.

"Talented lass she is indeed. I see you've found a kindred spirit Thatch." Pops laughed before he handed the book back to a grinning Izo.

"A woman after my own heart Pops." Thatch held his hands to his chest in a dramatic fashion and Marco's head began to hurt as he thought about how much trouble the pair were going to end up causing. "I'm going to ask her if I can copy the pages so I can hang them in the mess hall for the rest of the crew to see. Which brings me back to me original question; I still need help getting the pictures so she can continue making these hilarious little skits, so who's in?"

Marco heard Haruta state "Ok, I'm in!" and looked over at the grinning brunette.

When the rest of the commanders chimed in with their willingness to actually participate in the gingers antics Marco knew that the shit was going to hit the proverbial fan when fire fist found out about the book... and the Whitebeard Pirates involvement in helping to create it.

* * *

 **What do you think Izo was whispering to Thatch?**

* * *

 **Guest: Trust me there will be more Ace and Ann moments, some funny some very very serious.**

 **trippyhowl: I know right 😭 I looked**

 **Guest: I'm glad it could make you laugh, means I'm doing something right.**

 **sousie: Only a tad hey 😂**

 **Lonely Puppy: Thankx, I do try 😆**

* * *

 **As Always Enjoy**

 **Xhex xoxo**


	4. The She-Devil

"Don't start a fight that you can't finish"

\- Sanji -

* * *

It was a loud crash that woke me.

As I mumbled incoherently while pushing my blankets to the side to go see what the hell was going on I felt my stupid senses begin to tingle... I cursed inside my head as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, they normally pointed to only one person in particular.

Just as I sat up with a groan a familiar set of gloved hands entered my line of sight holding my well loved black seaboots. Blinking sleepy eyes I looked up and into a familiar set of lively green eyes before smiling and leaning forward to gently ruffled Cruz's dark blue locks while I let my legs drop over the side of the bed.

"Been here long kid?" I watched him hold up one finger and then make a pinching motion with one hand while his other handed me my boots. So he'd been here for just under an hour.

Thanking him I slung on my boots while looking out the ships porthole window, roughly gauging the time from the amount of light spilling into the room, before looking back to the lanky fourteen year old "Had breakfast yet?" He shook his head as I got to my feet. "Well let's see what that noise was then go get us some grub."

I left the infirmary with the cabin boy, making my way up to the top deck with Cruz's help and groaned in relief as I stepped out into the sunshine... that turned into a long groan of exasperation as I realised my stupid sense were right on the money.

Marching over, well more like a brisk and very uncomfortably painful walk, to the idiot currently cursing as he tried to pull himself out of another railing - this time it was his arse that was stuck in it and Ohhh how I longed for my camera – I struggled not to laugh as I stopped in front of him with my arms crossed.

"Get the fuck away from me." He seethed without looking up.

I arched my eyebrow at his blatant hostility and put my hands on my hips before leaning as far forward as my insides allowed me. "And is that anyway to speak to you loving twin?"

His head snapped up at my words, shaggy ebony locks bouncing around his head while a sheepish look played across his face before his freckled cheeks spread wide on a grin. "Ann!"

"Don't you 'Ann' me. What do you think you're doing?" I pursed my lips and raised a blonde brow at him. I'd perfected this 'I already know what you're doing but I want you to confirm your stupidity' look over the years. Predominantly on Luffy.

"What the hell does it look like?" He grumbled out, eventually popping himself free of the railing and getting to his feet to give me a surprisingly gentle but big bear hug. "I'm going to take that Yonko's head if it's the last thing I do."

"Keep it up and it will be the last thing you do idiot." He glowered at me as he pulled away and I sighed heavily, realising it was way too early to talk to him about his about how stupid I thought he was being.

Settling on a different course of action I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "Come have breakfast with me and Cruz." I turned to look at the teen behind me, noticing how he was twisting his gloved fingers together and refusing to look at Ace. That made me narrow my eyes and turn back to my brother. "What's that about?" I hiked my thumb over my shoulder, indicating to the fidgeting pirate.

I watched his eyes that were an identical shade of warm chocolate to my own flick to Cruz before he looked back at me. "No clue." I narrowed my eyes at him further, he better have not have been an asshole to Cruz like he'd apparently been to Roman. "Enjoy your breakfast." He mumbled before shrugging my hand off his shoulder and stalking off.

Oh he pissed me off sometimes.

"Stubborn Asshole!" I yelled at his retreating back, becoming aware but not really giving a shit of all the people who were currently watching us with a mixture of curiosity and amusement in their gazes.

Turning back to Cruz I went over an ruffled his hair again, earning a wide grin from the kid who reminded me so much of my other little brother, before putting my arm around his shoulders. "So kid, where does one go to get food around here?"

As he hesitated while looking around in confusion I groaned "Tell me they've been feeding you?"

"Of course we have. What do you think we are? Barbarians?" I turned around with a wide grin as I recognised the voice of my scrapbook accomplice, watching Thatch as he make his way over to us. "But it is a huge ship and it does take a while to figure out your way around here. You probably just got a little bit turned around didn't you kid?"

Cruz nodded and grinned at the ginger before Thatch turned around, yelling an encouraging "Come on you pair." over his shoulder. I shrugged and began to follow him, dragging Cruz with me. Hopefully it was to somewhere where we could get some food.

A few minute later I was standing in a huge room with an excited Cruz beside me.

I should have known that such a huge ship would have and equally big galley, not a small ass one like we'd had on our ship but a massive space that could easily sit four hundred people, double if you squeezed. And when a large set of steel doors swung open along the wall to my left I glimpsed the frigging huge kitchen beyond.

It was relatively easy to find too but I didn't hold that against Cruz, he got a bit directionally challenged when he was nervous. I was actually surprise he wasn't currently stuck to Roman's side.

Looking around the room that I couldn't really call a galley because, well, that was normally a kitchen and dining room combined, I noted the curious looks of most of the pirates that were seated but ignored them and followed after Thatch.

I let Cruz go as I could practically feel him vibrating with excitement as I took in the sight of all the food that was spread out in the middle of the tables buffet style... figures that was what had made the kid so eager. On our ship our cook Kiren portion controlled everything, (completely Ace's fault right there) here, well the amount of food on one table alone might be able to make a dent in the black hole that was Ace's stomach... Luffy would probably clean this place out in a single sitting though.

As Cruz ran ahead and settled himself down at a relatively empty table Thatch dropped back so he was walking beside me. "Bit of a shy kid isn't he?"

I snorted at that. Cruz shy. "If you call mooning a rival pirate crew shy, then I'd hate to see what your definition of bold is."

Beside me Thatch chocked on a laugh "But he's such a quiet kid."

"That's because he's mute Thatch." When he faltered beside me I stopped and looked at him seriously "He's not broken or damaged and he certainly doesn't need babying. You treat him no differently from any other crew member. All he wants is to be accepted and if anyone has something bad to say about my little bro and his differences I'll happily teach them some manners." And with that I left a wide eyed Thatch standing by himself and made my way over to Cruz, who grinned at me and pushed a glass of juice and a bowl of fruit in front of me as I sat down. God he reminded me of Luffy... except Cruz actually shared food.

Only a hand full of seconds passed before Thatch was sitting on the other side of us, coffee in hand and grinning like an idiot. "A little dress wearing geisha told me that you drew an interesting picture of a certain fruit headed commander."

Narrowing my eyes at Thatch I cursed out Izo in my head. "So?"

"Well depending how much he pissed you off yesterday depends on if I ask you my next question." He went back to sipping at his coffee, grinning at me over the rim of his cup.

I felt my eye twitch and mumbled "Stupid pineapple headed pervert." before I sighed and answered Thatch "I promised Roman that I wouldn't disembowel him but if he accidentally falls in the ocean I might not shout for help."

Thatch laughed into his coffee as I felt Cruz jiggle with laughter on the bench seat beside me. "Well how would you feel about lending me that picture for a while?"

I eyed Thatch curiously. Normally I'd say a flat 'No' to someone wanting to look in my personal sketch book but I really wanted to see what idea the ginger currently had cooking. "Depends what you're going to do with it?"

"Nothing much, just get a little bit of revenge on feather-head. Take a few photos of it and hand them out to the crew is all."

I felt an all too familiar evil grin break out across my face that had the ginger across from me sitting back a bit and raising his eyebrows. "I have a better idea." I grinned wider at the idea currently running through my head, taking inspiration from Romans words yesterday about the kid I could see from the corner of my eye smack him hand over his face. Cruz knew this look, it meant that someone had gotten on my shit list and was about to get a heaping helping of payback. "If you get my blue chest out of your ships storage hold and give me a space to work in, I'll give you something so much better than a four by four photo of a drawing."

Thatch smirked at me before getting up from his seat "Ok, wait here. I'll get your chest then come back and grab you." he began to walk away before he suddenly turned back around "Oh almost forgot these." I watched him pull a small pile of photos out of his back pocket and hand them to me before he turned back around and practically ran out of the mess hall.

Taking a sip of my juice I almost choked on it as I looked at the first photo of Ace flying at Whitebeard with his fist blazing and mouth wide open as he yelled a battle cry, absolute determination written across his features.

The next photo had me breaking down into fits of laughter. Ace looked like he was trying to squeeze a crap out as he pushed against the ships railing which his arse was stuck in, eyes clenched shut, face straining and teeth bared.

The third one however had me suddenly blinking back tears. In it Ace was hugging me while a huge grin was plastered across his freckled face. I didn't even get to the rest of the stack as I focused on that one in particular.

That was the Ace I knew, that was the Ace I wanted the world to see. He was so much more than what those morons had filled his head with over the years.

I just wished he could see it for himself.

* * *

"What the hell are you doing with that, yoi?" Marco had walked out of his bedroom-slash-office to see Thatch grunting and groaning while lugging a powder blue chest that was almost the same size as the ginger down the commander's corridor.

"Thinking of eating it... what does it look like I'm doing?" He huffed out "I'm taking it to my room." Marco moved forward and caught the trunk before it fell and injured the ginger or scratched up the floor and Haruta injured the ginger. Damn the thing was heavy Marco thought as Thatch adjusted his hold on the truck and more of the weight shifted Marco's way.

What had the commander put in it? Bricks?

Shuffling over to Thatch's room Marco reached out a hand and opened the door before walking backwards into the room, putting the chest down near the gingers bed. "Ok Thatch, what are you up to now, yoi?" he arched a sandy-blonde brow at his brother, not trusting the prank happy idiot for one second.

"It's not mine." He watched Thatch pant out as his brother bend over to rest his hands on his knees. Marco frowned at the gingers words, but before he could ask his brother whose it was Thatch continued on panted breath "It's Ann's, she wanted it and a space to work in."

"Ann's awake, yoi?" The last Marco had been informed of the blonde was that she'd ripped some of her stitches open up on the deck and Izo had carried her back to the infirmary before Doc had fixed her up and given her another strong pain killer that had knocked her out for the rest of the afternoon and that night.

He'd gone to check on her after dinner, only to be stopped by Roman standing guard outside her room. Marco could have easily gotten past the rookie but the young pirate was a lot smarter than he seemed and had threatened to say something to both Maybelle and Ann so Marco had relented and walked off, remembering to keep a wary eye on that particular pirate in the future.

Ace had been relatively quiet too, if you could call attacking Pop's while the Yonko had been asleep and the Old Man sending the young pirate through a wall and into the railing quiet Marco thought on a sigh. Haruta currently wanted to maim Ace.

"She's in the mess hall eating with that kid that we thought was just shy." Marco broke from his own thoughts at Thatch's words and looked lazily at the ginger until he continued explaining "Right, well you remember that cabin boy Cruz?" Marco nodded "Turns out he's mute and from just talking to Ann for a split second about him I can tell you that she's protective of the little squirt."

Mute? Marco would have to talk to the other division commanders and Pops about the kid. Not to single him out but so everyone could work together smoothly and there'd be no misunderstandings. He would have talked to the kids former Captain but Marco had a feeling that he'd get a 'fuck off' as a response.

He could always go talk to Ann about it Marco thought.

As if Thatch was able to read his mind the ginger suddenly piped up "Before you think about going to talk to her, she's still pissed at you." Marco groaned. This was worse than the Whitey Bay incident. At least back then he wasn't stuck on the same ship as the seething women. "Chin up brother, she did reaffirm that she wouldn't disembowel you at the next possible opportunity, so that's progress at least." Marco glared at Thatch as the ginger started to laugh before he began to push Marco out of his room.

Between Ace wanting to kill the Old Man and Ann wanting to kill him Marco had a bloody headache. And he had a niggling feeling that it was only going to get worse.

* * *

"So where's Gunner?" I placed a piece of apple in my mouth while looking at Cruz. The kid cupped his hands in front of his skinny chest and then made a kissing motion which had me bursting out laughing. "Following the pretty nurses around hey?" Cruz smirked and nodded while I laughed some more, I'd seen the uniforms the other night... Gunner was doomed.

But before I could ask him about the rest of the crew I heard a deep bellied laugh and looked around until I spotted Whitebeard a few rows over, grinning at Cruz and I while he drank out of a huge damn mug. "What did the brat say about my nurses Ann?"

I turned to the Yonko with a grin "He said that our crew's gunner, who's also ironically named Gunner, is currently chasing around after your pretty nurses."

"He'll learn his lesson when my head nurse Maybelle catches him snooping around, Gurarara." I laughed along with Whitebeard, imagining the incorrigible cowboy hat wearing brunet getting his just desert for being a perv until I felt a tug on one of my blonde locks and locked over my shoulder at Cruz as he held up his empty plate with a raised eyebrow.

Turning back to Whitebeard I was about to open my mouth when the Yonko cut me off by addressing Cruz directly "If you're finished brat, the dirty dishes go in the trolley near the kitchen doors." Whitebeard pointed to somewhere behind me and I peered over my shoulder to see Cruz already walking away from the table, watching as he placed his plate and glass where the Yonko had said before he turned to wave at me before taking off. Probably to go find Roman.

"How'd you know what he wanted?" I raised a quizzical brow as I looked back to Whitebeard. Only Roman and I had ever really knew what Cruz was on about.

The fourteen year old had been with us for about six months now, technically he was our second crew member but it had taken me a solid month to get the kid to open up to us and even when he'd started gesturing about stuff the crew only knew what he was asking for or saying half of the time. It's why I had begun to teach him how to read and write. He'd known next to nothing when I'd pulled him off of that horrible island but after he'd stared in wonder at all my books I made it my mission to teach him. And two months ago I'd been proud as punch when he'd written 'Panty Pirates' across our ships main sail with no spelling mistakes or backwards letters. I couldn't even get angry at the kid for using my underwear and sewing pins to do it. Plus he'd embarrassed the shit out of Ace and Gunner.

"Gurarara, when you have as many children as me you pick up a few things along the way." So the stories of the Whitebeard Pirates being more like a family were true, the Yonko really considered all of these pirates his kids. He hadn't been shooting shit when he'd asked me to be his daughter I suddenly realised; he'd been one hundred percent sincere in his offer. "The brat may not be able to talk, but if you take a moment to look properly you can understand what he wants quite easily _._ "

"He's a good kid. A surprisingly cheeky kid but a good kid nonetheless. He's my little ratbag brother and I'd do anything for him." I smiled at the giant as he continued to drink from his coffee while looking at me strangely.

At least I could rest a bit easier now knowing that if Ace and I left, even though I was beginning to hope we wouldn't, the family that I'd built around me over the past several months would be well taken care of.

"You're pretty calm and friendly for someone who's sailing on an enemy pirate's ship." His golden eyes assessed me in a way that made me believe how I answered him was important to the Yonko.

"You're many things Whitebeard Sir, but you're not my enemy." I smiled at him as I traced patterns on the table's wooden top with the condensation from my glass. "Besides, I don't think that someone who wished to cause me harm would offer me a place in their family. I also know that you offered the same thing to the rest of my brothers." Roman had told me the other day after my shower and I'd encouraged him, and by proxy the rest of our crew, to accept the Yonko's offer.

I put the last bit of apple in my mouth as he arched a slightly greying brow at me. "You're twin seems to think differently."

"Who knows what Ace is thinking half of the time." I mumbled as I munched on the piece of apple, quite aware of how the larger pirate was watching me curiously. It was bloody unnerving, almost like the Yonko could gleam the real thoughts running through my head.

I actually started reciting an old sea shanty in my head, that's how paranoid the Yonko's intense amber gaze made me.

"Oh good, you're still here." I almost sighed in relief at Thatch's welcomed interruption to the way his Captain was trying to probe for information.

I turned slowly in my seat, so as not to aggravate my stomach which had reduced to a dull ache in terms of pain, and looked at Thatch as he made his way back across the mess hall. "Where else would I go on a ship out at sea?" I smiled at him.

"Umm..." I laughed at his confused look.

"It was a rhetorical question Thatch. I was just enjoying a chat with your Captain here." I nodded to Whitebeard as I got up off the seat and walked over to Thatch's side. "Common, show me to my work space." I said enthusiastically as I linked my arm through his.

"Gurarara, have fun you brats. Don't cause too much trouble."

I batted my eyes innocently at the Yonko "Wouldn't dream of it Whitebeard Sir."

* * *

Thatch's laughter filled the air as he lounged on his bed and flipped through one of my log books that had been packed into my blue trunk while I sat on the floor, half way through colouring the sketched picture on the twelve by five foot piece of canvas.

"Did your cook really get chased through the forest by this giant ass bear?" I looked up from blending the oil pastels to the opened book Thatch had turned towards me.

"Yeah, that happened on Magi Isle, though that incident was technically Ace's fault." I laughed at the picture I'd drawn of Kiren getting chased by the huge ebony furred bear.

"Can you explain to me exactly what your brother was thinking?"

I snorted a laugh and wiped my hair off my face before going back to colour blending. "Since we were kids Ace has always insisted on taking on the biggest and baddest animals in the jungle. Probably something to do with some male need to prove themselves or some shit like that."

"Oi, I resemble that remark." I snickered at Thatch's words while he grinned at me.

"Anyway..." I started, getting back to my drawing and the story "when we got to Magi the locals told us about this huge bear that lived up the islands northern peak and well Ace being Ace went off half cocked after it. Kiren went with him because he's the cook and Ace was shouting about roast bear." - The bloody gluten - I shook my head at the thought with a smile and moved down further on the canvas, wiping some of the colourful oily stains off my fingers onto my 'borrowed' pants. "The next thing I was aware of was Kiren cursing Ace's name while getting chased down the mountain by that huge ass thing." I indicated to the twenty foot long nasty ball of fur drawn in the book that Thatch was back to snickering at.

"So why was the bear chasing Kiren instead of Ace?" Ding, ding, ding, now that was the million berrie question.

"Well now," I sat back, taking a break and observing my half finished work with a self satisfied smirk "Ace swears black and blue that he didn't but I have a strong inkling that he used Kiren as bait."

Thatch's eyes bulged out while I grinned at the gingers reaction "Why the hell would he do something like that?"

"Because it's exactly what he used to do all the time to our youngest brother back home." I watched Thatch drop backwards onto his bed as he began to laugh loudly and I joined as I remembered all the time Ace and Sabo had put Luffy in the thick of it.

I kept laughing until the sound of a loud growl filled the air. Thatch popped his head up from his bed and looked at me with wide eyes until my stomach let out another rumbling groan and he snickered before pivoting himself off his bed and to his feet.

"Looks like time got away from us, we missed lunch." He reached out a hand and I put my multi colour stained one in his and let him pull me to my feet. "Common, let's go see what's left in the kitchen for us to devour." I hesitated, looking down at the almost finished canvas on the ground; I didn't want anyone seeing it before it was finished and telling the stupid pineapple headed pervert about it.

As if reading my mind Thatch chimed in "Don't worry, my door locks so no one will be able to sticky beak."

I nodded my head and smiled at Thatch until I went to follow behind the ginger and a sharp sensation lanced through my stomach and I hissed loudly.

"What's wrong." Thatch turned back around quickly, eyes filled with concern.

"Nothing, I'm all good." I winced as I moved once again and Thatch gave me a look that told me he didn't believe me for one moment. "Ok, ok," I relented under his gaze "I guess that whatever pain medication Doc gave me has finally worn off. It kinda hurts to move around now."

Thatch sighed heavily and turned back around, lowering himself down so he was kind of kneeling and looked over his shoulder expectantly at me. "Well?"

I raised an eyebrow at him and his weird pose "Well what?"

He rolled his eyes at me "Get on!"

I grinned, realising what the ginger was offering and cautiously climbed on the commanders back. I hadn't had a piggy back ride in ages, not since I'd clung onto Romans back to keep him warm as we'd trekked up that winter island's mountain to see Shanks. Of course the eccentric Yonko had to make camp at the peak of the islands tallest mountain. He was fucking crazy, no wonder Luffy loved him. I liked the Emperor as well; if not for him I wouldn't have my lovable little brother.

"Onwards my faithful stead!" I laughed out as Thatch stood back up, my arms around his shoulders and his arms linked under my butt so I didn't have to try and hold myself up.

"First stop the infirmary, then food."

"Sounds like an excellent plan good sir." I watched Thatch as he looked his door with a key that he had attached to a chain on his pants before we were moving down the long hallway that housed all the commanders' rooms. He'd told me who's was who's when we'd come through here before but all I really remember was which was Thatch's and which belonged to the asshole I was intent on currently avoiding at all costs.

"And then perhaps you can get that stubborn sibling of yours to eat something rather than him raiding the frigging pantry of a night time and messing with the delicate system that I've established." I could hear the exasperation in Thatch's voice, easily imaging how much of a mess Ace could make when he was hungry.

Groaning loudly I flopped my head down on Thatch's back as we went up a flight of steps "But I don't wanna..." I whined.

I both heard and felt him chuckle at my words "Please little firecracker, you're the only one he hasn't told to fuck off so far." I groaned louder. "Plus I was there when you promised Roman yesterday." He practically sang the last part with glee and I resigned myself to the fact that I was essentially involved in a losing argument.

I huffed loudly as we rounded another corner, recognising that we were close to the infirmary now. "Fine, I'll go check on the temperamental child."

Speaking of my sibling had me thinking of another thing. I lifted my head off the gingers back as he pushed through the door to the room I'd spent the majority of my time aboard the Moby in. "Hey Thatch?" He moved to stand so he was facing away from the bed I'd been sleeping in so I could easily slide off his back and onto it, asking what was up as he turned around to look at me. "If you've been with me all day, who's been taking pictures of Ace when he makes an ass of himself?"

"Well you see, I kinda had to employ som-" before the ginger could finish explaining himself a women who I hadn't seen before but going by baby pink uniform and thigh high purple leopard print boots made it easy to guess was a nurse walked into the room, lifting her head up from the clipboard she had in her hands when she almost ran into Thatch.

"Oi Maybelle, Ann here needs some pain killers." Thatch grinned widely at the bespectacled brunette with the heart shaped face as she turned her assessing amber gaze on me. So this was Whitebeards head nurse. The terms 'no nonsense' and 'ball breaker' came to mind.

"Curiel was wondering where you'd gone off to when he came to check on you this morning." She moved over to a cabinet and started getting stuff out of the draws. "I told him you'd surface when the pain got too much." She spoke with an air of authority but when she turned around with a small plastic cup of water, an even tinier cup with two white pills inside in one hand and a fresh bandage in her other she smiled warmly at me as she handed me two of the three items.

I should have taken that as my warning sign.

Downing the pills with the water I handed the empty cups back to the women, watching her as she threw them in a trash can before coming to stand back in front of me. I knew what was to come next but I still tried to put it off as long as possible.

Maybelle however must have gotten sick of the dawdling speed I was moving at because I'd just swung my feet up so I was sitting on the bed when she practically shoved me so I was laying flat on my back, moved my shirt up enough to get to the bandage over my stitches and ripped it off in one quick tug.

Everything seemed to slow down in those few seconds, like the universe wanted to prolong my suffering.

I opened my mouth to scream but only a puff of air came out. Black dots literally danced in my vision. After a few seconds I managed a strangled groan of misery as tears began rolling down my cheeks. Holy shit, it felt like she'd just done to me what I'd been contemplating doing to that pineapple headed pervert yesterday.

I eyed her with no small amount of fear as she wiped the wound clean and put some type of cream on it before slapping the fresh bandage back on. And she did it all the while smiling that sweet fucking smile... but she wasn't fooling me however, she was even more of a sadist than Doc. I never thought I'd admit it, but in that moment when it felt like she'd reefed ten layers of skin off with the bandage I actually missed the cantankerous quack.

I practically sprinted out of the room when she said that she was all done and I could go, almost mowing down an amused looking Thatch in my effort to put as much distance between me and the head nurse as was humanly possible.

I stumbled a step... Fuck, I was stuck on a ship out at sea with her.

Thatch could finish answering my question when he caught up to me after I was well enough away from that she-devil. I didn't know what I'd done to piss the nurse off but there was no way in hell I was going back to the infirmary to find out. I'd rather go for a swim in the ocean.

Gunner should be fucking afraid.

* * *

 **Next up: Ann talks to Ace, how do you think it'll go? And what do you think she's drawing in Thatch's room?**

* * *

 **GreenDrkness: Why Thank you**

 **Flowerbelle: Ahhhh so do I... soon hopefully ;)**

* * *

 **As Always Enjoy**

 **Xhex xoxo**


	5. The Confrontation

"There are things you can't see unless you change your standing."

\- Trafalgar Law -

* * *

I stood looking at the door of the room Ace had barricaded himself in, a plate of sandwiches in one hand and my other one raised to knock on the door.

Except, instead of moving the last few centimetres to rap my knuckles against the wooden surface I let the appendage hang frozen in midair while I studiously studied the doors every grain like they might hold the solution to my every problem... like for instance, how to deal with a certain hot-headed sibling of mine.

It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to my brother per se, I just knew that it'd more than likely end in another argument that would probably make me feel like strangeling the idiot. And right now I was just tired and kinda over everything.

Mainly though, as the eldest of us two I was just over being the one who looked after him; the one who kept their shit together so Ace could have the opportunities to fuck up and fall down because I was always there to make things better.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my sibling, but I often found myself wondering if I'd ever get to just be a normal teenager at some point; I didn't really have that luxury as a child considering if shit went pear shaped the only family I'd initially had to fall back on was my twin. And even after I gained two more brothers I never wanted to dump any form of responsibility on their heads; they would more than likely make things a hundred times worse. Dedan and the mountain bandits had looked after us in the most basic of senses but that was more because they had to than because they wanted to and if we did something wrong it was up to us to fix it ourselves. And Gramps visits were as rare as a sea breeze in the calm belt so it'd fallen on me to be the responsible one... and it sucked.

It was only recently, four months ago to be precise and only through Roman vehemently promising that he'd keep Ace in line, that I'd first allowed myself to be completely and utterly irresponsible... getting absolutely shit faced and doing something that had made my brother threaten everyone with their lives if they ever brought it up. I briefly felt my cheeks heat as I remembered exactly what, or more precisely who, I'd done.

Taking a deep breath as I shook my head to clear that embarrassing memory from my mind I opened my hand and placed my palm flat against the smooth wooden surface, building up the strength I would need to deal with the seething pirate that I could sense was currently pacing in circles on the other side of the door. It spoke volumes of how ticked off he was that he couldn't even feel my presence when I was only mere feet away from him.

I hadn't needed anyone to tell me where he was; since eating that cursed fruit I'd been able to sense his whereabouts if I focused, fire called to fire.

Although for some strange reason when I'd picked up the plate and reached for that elemental bond, that was sometimes both a blessing and a curse, there'd been this weird flicker separate from that which was my twins raging presence. And if it wasn't for the way Thatch and then to top it off Roman, because the irritant had managed to track me down while I was eating (hiding from a certain psychotic nurse) in the kitchen with Thatch, had wheedled the shit out of me to take the food to Ace I would have followed that strange presence to find out what the hell it was.

Deciding that I most defiantly wasn't going to get the answers I was searching for by staring at the door I shifted my hand to rap my knuckles loudly against the wood. A muffled 'Fuck off!' come from the other side as Ace's response (no wonder Roman wanted me to deal with him) causing me to roll my eyes at his blatant hostility before I grabbed a hold of the door handle and pushed the damn thing open.

A torrent of flames greeted me.

I screamed and dove towards the ground, the plate in my hand clattering to the floor but somehow not spilling a single piece of food. Yippy for me, Ace got all his food while I get a fucking heart attack.

The fire abruptly cut off and I heard Ace's combat boots thudding against the wooden floor as his slightly panicked voice yelled "Shit, shit, shit, shit." as he ran over towards me.

Thank fuck I'd taken those pain killers earlier because between Maybelle's sick torture and my swan dive to the floor I was positive I would have been curled up in the fetal position bawling my eyes out if I wasn't currently in a whole world of floaty numbness. Those were some good drugs.

I felt Ace grab my shoulders and just went with the flow as he rolled me over, a million ways that I was going to make him pay for aiming his pyrotechnics at me running through my mind. "I'm so sorry Ann, if I'd known it was you I wouldn't have..." He trailed off when his eyes met mine, his going slightly wide as he realised just how angry I currently was as I glared up at him.

I sorely hoped that he could see that I was seriously considering fratricide in that moment...

Instead I settled for punching him squarely in his freckled face with a hit that our Gramps had taught me.

Hesitantly, because I didn't want to tempt my current good fortune of zero pain after my harsh impact with the floor, I sat up while listening to Ace moan in pain somewhere behind me, momentarily glaring at the pirates who'd been drawn by my scream before turning my angry gaze on my brother. I watched him with slitted lids as he sat up from where he'd landed back inside the room, quickly putting his hand over his nose to stem the blood that was now flowing from it while he watched me wearily.

"I have half a mind to toss you the fuck overboard for that Ace." I growled out as I got up from the ground, bending down to pick up the plate of sandwiches before I marched in the dank room he'd holed himself up in and slammed the door behind me as an incentive to keep prying ears away. "Instead I'm going to sit in here and make sure you eat this food that I went to the trouble of making for you because even though you're an asshole you're still my brother and I care about you."

With my piece said I brushed past him, making my way over to the bed that was pushed up against the farthest wall I was, well aware of how he was currently watching me; apprehension clearly evident in his gaze as he was more than likely wondering if I was going to flip out further at him for using his fire against me and put the plate down ontop of the wooden crate that was next to the head of the bed before flopping down onto the worn mattress.

As I closed my eyes and breathed deeply in and out, as was my normal go to for getting my own anger under control, I could hear Ace shuffling around and seconds later I felt the mattress depress as he hesitantly sat down next to my legs.

A few seconds ticked by, in which I seriously considered just ignoring him, but as I felt him not so subtlety shifting around I found myself relunctantly cracking an eye open to look at him, working hard to smother the grin that threatened to break my irritated expression as I watched his head moved along with his eyes as they bounced back and forward between me and the food while he absently wiped his hand across his face.

When he started to resemble a creature from a horror story, because he wasn't really wiping up the blood just smearing it over his tanned freckled cheeks, I sighed heavily and sat up, grabbing the tail end of his dirty yellow shirt while shoving his hand out of the way so I could clean up the mess myself.

Sometimes he could be as hopeless as Luffy.

"The sandwiches aren't poisoned, I made them myself." I twisted his face from left to right, making sure I got all the blood before letting him go on a tsk before shifting out of the way as he practically dove at the food.

I watched in silence as he inhaled them one after another, absantly wondering if he could even taste the food as he seemed to not even be chewing it.

Before in the kitchen, when I'd been going on about how unfair it was for that she-devil to take her irritation at my brother out on me (Thatch had informed me that no, that was just how Maybelle was in general), I'd watched the ginger as he'd made one messily little sandwich before handing it to me and asking me to take it to Ace. I'd laughed at Thatch, moved him out of the way and made twenty more like it, leaving it to Roman to explain my brothers bottomless pit appetite to the ginger as I'd left.

"You know eating like that will give you reflux." I scolded him while shaking my head. How he could eat so much and so quickly was beyond me; I struggled with just one sandwich. Something that both Ace and Luffy had taken advantage of when Makino had brought us meals over the years; I was almost a hundred percent sure that the women knew I couldn't possibly eat as much as my brothers and she'd only made my servings as big as the boys because Ace was too stubborn to ask for more and I wouldn't have gotten any food if mine was smaller as Luffy had a tendacy to pinch food from my plate even before he was finished his own.

Ace grinned at me while devouring the last sandwich before putting the plate back on top of a crate and throwing himself at me, tackling me to the mattress as he hugged the living shit out of me. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm so sorry for attacking you. You're the best sister even."

"I'm your only sister blockhead." I wheezed out "Ow, let go!"

As he let go of me I sat up and shuffled my way backwards on the bed until I was sitting against the headboard with my legs stretched out, watching him as he moved to rest so he was sitting with his back agaist the wall that the length of the single bed was pushed up against, crossing his legs so they weren't drapped over mine before looking at me like he expected me to instantly start lecturing him.

Well I didn't want to disappoint the idiot.

"You know I get why you're all pissy with Whitebeard's crew but I don't really get why you're being such an asshole to your own crew." I crossed my arms, arching an eyebrow at him.

He crossed his arms defensively before he huffed out "But they're not my crew anymore are they. I lost."

I wanted to groan; he was frigging sulking.

"So you're pissed at yourself and just being a dick to everyone else." I said it matter-of-factly, not needing Ace to actually answer the rhetoric question. I had to bite my tongue from laughing when he rolled his eyes while continuing to act like a big sulking child.

Ace tended to push people away when he was angry with himself. Except me; I was the one exception to that rule.

"You know they're not a bad crew." I hesitantly began, watching him as he tensed up further. "In fact they're actually really friendly... Except for that sadistic head nurse." I shuddered just thinking about Maybelle. "Just thought you should know that the man you're trying to off because you're so hung up on proving you're better than Roger offered all of us a place here as part of the crew... as part of a real family Ace." The last part I said quietly but I knew he heard me, especially as his eyes shifted to mine and he glowered at me.

He was probably more pissed off that I'd said our biological sperm donors name than the fact that I'd voiced my longing for that which I'd never truly had... Well the princess could just suck it up and deal with it couldn't he.

Except in the way it normally went Ace decided to have a dig at me because I'd said something that pissed him off. And he knew just where to strike too.

"You should be happy that you look more like mum with those blonde ringlets of yours, instead of having his black hair." I glared hard at him, god he was childish sometimes.

I'd never been able to understand how Ace could hate one of our biological parents but hold the other up on a golden pedestal. I saw them both the same way; they were as bad as one another. Although I didn't hate them the way Ace hated Roger, I certainly resented their abandonment of us. The 'What if?' game had been a favourite of mine to torment myself with over the years. The only reason I'd taken our incubators name was because it was the less recognizable of the pair and Ace had flat out refused to change it to Monkey.

At least he noticed my look and decided to change the subject... although not to a much better one in my opinion. "You remember what's coming up soon?"

"Trust me brother, I'll never forget." I brought my right hand up to rub over my left shoulder and Ace for once let the subject drop.

I shook my head to clear the unwanted memories and looked over to my stubbornly idiotic brother, noticing the glossy look to his eyes. I knew what was about to happen.

Leaning forward I grabbed the sleeve of Ace's shirt and tugged until he flopped down beside me on the bed as he succumbed to his narcolepsy and began to run my fingers through his thick ebony hair, watching as his face relaxed and he slowly shifted into proper sleep. It was a trick I'd used on both Ace and Luffy over the years to get them to drift off to a very deep state of sleep when they were being irritating.

I sighed and looked between the door and the pirate that was now sleeping soundly next to me, I was in no hurry to leave my twin since I could see the black bags under his eyes and knew that he wasn't sleeping properly. Narcoleptic episodes didn't really count as sleep. I also knew that he'd more than likely stay asleep if I remained here.

So when he began to snore lightly I inched my way down until I was lying next to him and let my own eyes drift closed, it was just like being back in our tree forte on Dawn Island again... all that was missing was my rubbery little sibling who had a tendency to wrap his limbs around me in his sleep.

Because no matter how much I wished I'd never get my other brother back... and that's what stung the most around this time every year.

* * *

 _"Oi, eat this with me." I eyed the cut up fruit that Ace held out to me with scepticism._

 _He never shared food... like ever._

 _I swung my gaze to Roman who was busy tightening the yard lines on the little ship the three of us currently called home. Ace and him had been exploring the uninhabited island for the past three hours while I'd relaxed on the tiny deck that was also the bow and sketched the arid landscape before me... among other things. Honestly I was just thankful for the break our first crew member offered me from my brother's usual hyperactivity. Roman had only been with us for two weeks but to me it felt like I'd always known him. I knew I could trust him wholeheartedly. I'd even drunk a cup of sake with the pirate, informing him that he was now and forever my official big brother._

 _As Roman looked up from his task and noticed my raised eyebrow I shifted my gaze to the plate that Ace held out in front of me before returning to look at the dark skinned man who just shrugged his shoulders in reply and went back to doing what he had been._

 _Big help he was._

 _Choosing to just humour my idiot twin I accepted the piece of yellowy-orange fruit and brought it up to my mouth to take a bite, noticing from the corner of my eye how Ace was watching me intently and mimicking my every movement._

 _At first I didn't notice anything, swallowing the small chunk of squishy flesh whole... The aftertaste however had me dropping the remainder of god awful fruit to gag._

 _"What the fuck did you just give me?" I managed to get out as I tried not to vomit. At least Ace was likewise the same next to me._

 _"Luffy was right, devil fruit taste like shit." I stopped dead mid-hack as it dawned on me exactly what Ace had just said and swung my suddenly wide gaze around to find him wiping his tongue with the bottom corner of his shirt._

 _Trying to calm the sudden panic I felt beginning to rush through my system I looked out to the lapping ocean waves as they lazily broke on the islands sandy shore; the crystal clear water that I'd been peacefully swimming in when Ace and Roman had gotten back to the ship a while ago still looking so inviting... but possibly now forever out of my reach._

 _"What did you do Portgas D Ace?" I whispered threateningly as I moved to grab the lapels of his shirt that he never bothered to button up._

 _"I found a fruit and wanted to see if it was possible to share it." He shrugged stupidly as I looked up at him threateningly. That sounded like something our idiotic little brother would think, not Ace. I thought he was smarter than that... guess I was wrong._

 _"What fruit was it you idiot? What stupid power could you possibly want that bad that you'd want to join the anchor club like our little brother?" I felt the air around us heat, like the desert winds had blown down to the shore._

 _I was so fucking angry with Ace, not just because he'd thought to eat a fucking devil fruit without talking to me about it first but because he'd thought to give it to me without even telling me what it was._

 _When he mumbled something my anger at him went through the roof and I shook him by my grip on his shirt. "What was the fucking fruit Ace?! Or are you that much or a moron that you ate it without knowing what it was?!"_

 _His eyes narrowed into slits and he grabbed a hold of my hands with his much larger ones, prying me off him as his own anger rose to match mine. "I'm not a moron!" he yelled in my face "I know exactly what fruit it was and it's worth the sacrifice." I could hear the utter conviction in his words but I was too fucking angry to care._

 _I felt utterly betrayed by him._

 _"You didn't even talk to me about this you asshole." I screamed back at him, reefing my arm away from him and hauling back to punch him in his stupid freckled face._

 _As my clenched fist came hurling towards him his eyes widened and he managed to bring up his arms to block my blow... except my fist passed right through him and I ended up stumbling forward due to the momentum of my missed punch. To make the situation even more frightening, instead of colliding with Ace my upper body passed straight through his as I fell towards the ship's deck._

 _Hitting the wooden boards I rolled in the last second so I was sort of crouched, bracing myself on all fours as my mind raced with a million thoughts... my sudden fear making them so chaotic that I couldn't think straight or even seem to focus._

 _My long blonde hair was currently obscuring my view of everything... except for the hand that I'd tried to hit Ace with. And as I looked at it I suddenly found myself falling backwards onto my arse in shock and confusion before shakingly holding up the suddenly foreign appendage that had small red flames dancing over it and hoping beyond hope that my mind was just playing tricks on me._

 _"Awesome, it worked!" My gaze shot to Ace at his happy exclamation, my eyes widening ever further as I saw flames dancing over his skin which he poked at with a wide grin before he turned his excited gaze to me "Looks like we're both Mera-Mera No Mi users Ann, ain't that cool?"_

 _I looked back to my hand, watching the flames as they made their way up my arm and feeling a sudden panic take root in the pit of my stomach and spread out to every fibre of my being. My gaze bounced between my brother, a suddenly concerned looking Roman who was making his way over to us and my burning hand. I quickly brought my left hand up in a vain attempt to try and put the flames out, watching in horror as the fire practically leap over to my left hand and then proceeded to travel up my that arm._

 _It was at that point that my mind went into a haze and the last thing I remembered was screaming for my life as the image of flames caressing my skin dragged me back to all those years ago in Grey Terminal when my fear of fire had been set in stone._

"omfff..." I suddenly found myself face down on the cold wooden floor of the room I'd fallen asleep in only god knows however long ago, my twins light snoring still echoing through the room.

My past two instance of a long uninterrupted sleep had been a welcome reprieve but I knew it couldn't possibly last. I'd never been one to sleep for more than a few hours at a time for the past five years and normally I just woke up like a light flicking on and unable to turn back off; tired but unable to lay back down and go back to sleep. Over the years I'd just gotten used to it and put my suddenly vast amounts of spar time into my art. This time though I'd woken up because some asshole - Ace - had shoved me off the side of the bloody bed and I'd landed on the hard floor.

Getting up off the floor with a groan I thought about kicking my sibling who was currently starfishing it on the tiny bed but one look at his drooling and peaceful face was enough for me to decide to leave him alone. The idiot obviously needed a proper night's sleep and maybe, just maybe it would help his attitude. It was a long shot but one could only hope.

And honestly I wasn't all that upset that he'd woke me up, more thankful than anything, because what normally followed that dream was much, much worse and I had no intention of dredging up that painful memory.

Leaving the room I made my way over to the ships railing, looking out over the still dark waters that reflected the starry sky like an inky mirror. The full moon overhead bathed everything in a silvery glow and made it relatively easy for me to see the pirates still mulling around the deck of the ship.

I was so lost in trying to shake the thoughts of fire from my mind though that I almost jumped out of my fucking skin when something grabbed my shoulder.

Spinning around quickly as a shriek left my lips I smashed my fist into what I hoped was the solar plexus of whoever it was that had thought to grab me. At the last second I realised who it was and tried to pull my hit as I saw the familiar pompadour and suddenly wide gaze of the pirate that was now realising that sneaking up on me had been a very bad decision on his part.

I may have managed to pull the majority of my hit but I still thumped Thatch with enough force to send him stumbling backwards and I quickly raced after him as he fell over onto his arse, wheezing and clutching his stomach.

"Shit Thatch, I'm so sorry." I had a hold of his shoulders in the next instant and hit him between his shoulder blades, listening as he took a huge gulping intake of air before I moved back around his front in a crouched position to look at him.

A few minutes ticked by as Thatch's breathing evened out and then he was looking at me with wide eyes. "What the hell was that?" His voice still sounded a little wheezy as I helped him to his feet.

"Ummm..." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head "Something my Gramps taught me."

"It felt like Haki." Thatch groaned out as he rubbed his stomach.

"My arm didn't change colour like Whitebeard's did though." I pointed out rather pathetically, hoping that Thatch wouldn't ask exactly who my Granfather was.

Thatch took on a thoughtful appearance before he simply shrugged and grinned at me "Guess you just hit really, really hard." I schooled my features so in an attempt to not show the ginger how relieved I was that he'd just basically let my hit slide.

"Guess so." I mumbled as I smiled back as him, not really feeling like telling him that I'd actually managed to pull back a considerable amount of force that I'd put into my original hit. No use him freaking out over the fact that I could crack steal if I felt like it... although I tried to avoid that because I usually ended up with bleeding knuckles. But never a broken bone ironically.

"So what brings you this way?" I questioned him as I leant back against the railing and looked at the moons position "What time is it anyway?"

I watched him hop up to sit on the ships railing with only a slight grimace "It's just after eight. And I'm here because my new buddy Kiren pointed out that he hadn't seen either you or Ace in a while as he was helping out with the dishes so I figured I'd come check on you." I turned so I was facing Thatch, grinning at the fact that the rest of my crewmates seemed to be getting on well with the Whitebeard pirates... unlike a certain flame-brain idiot. "You know, make sure your brothers still alive... and considering the hit you put on me before I'm now inclined to believe Kiren about you being the stronger one of you two."

I groaned and rolled my eyes while Thatch chuckled. "He told me a very interesting story about you as well." My ears began to heat up as the few possibly embarrassing stories that Kiren could have told Thatch ran through my head. "Like how you apparently destroyed another crews ship with a single punch like some raging hell beast because they woke you up after you'd finally gotten to sleep... completely forgetting that all you were wearing was a pair of knickers." I groaned miserably, feeling my cheeks flush scarlet as I covered my face with my hands while Thatch continued to laugh.

That hadn't been one of my finest moments... In fact it was the third most embarrassing thing that I'd done since Ace and I had formed the crew. But in my defence I hadn't slept in three days and was just shy of suffering from sleep deprivation again.

"Trust me, Ace is still alive in there but I might be down a brother when I get my hands that big mouthed cook." I grumbled behind my hands.

At least there was no mention of a particular sake fuelled night of stupidity... I wasn't sure that I'd ever live that one down.

"So..." Thatch jumped down from the railing to stand next to me "Planning to get something to eat and then going back to the infirmary?"

"Because what I really want to do for the rest of the night is stare at the roof and constantly be on guard in case that sadistic nurse comes back?" I kept my face as impassive as possible as I looked at the ginger. "Thanks, but I think I'd rather take a leisurely swim in the ocean."

Thatch looked at me with a frown. "Okay, that was creepy. The only other person I know who knows how to be that sarcastic while looking that serious is Marco."

"Speaking of a certain Pineapple pervert..." I began while beginning to walk towards where I remembered the kitchen was. "If you're on watch soon can I go and finish my picture?"

Thatch easily caught up to me and I grinned as he held out the key I'd seen him use earlier too me. "What exactly do you have planned for it when you're finished?"

I grabbed hold of his shirt sleeve and lent up on my tiptoes to whisper the remainder of my plan to the ginger, noticing out of the corner of my eye how all the pirates still mulling around on deck turned their curious gazes our way as Thatch's loud laughter broke the silence when I explained exactly what I was going to do with the picture.

"Ok, ok." Thatch got out between laughs while he clutched his stomach. "I'll come get you when my shifts over. "

I grinned and nodded to Thatch, watching him as he walked off laughing before I went in search of something to eat so I had the energy to finish my revenge.

* * *

 **Poor Thatch. How do you think Marco will take whatever Ann has instore for her revenge against him?**

* * *

 **Guest: Cheers**

 **GreenDrkness: I know right 😅 I got the inspiration for her after having the displeasure of meeting this cantankerous nurse a few years back after I'd come off my road bike. She poured detol on my gravel rash while fishing chunks of bitumen out of my skin with tweezers... and smiled at me the whole fucking time.**

* * *

 **I updaye my stories when I feel like it, I have no set times. I don't like to half ass my stories so I only update when I'm happy with the chapters and I hope those of you that follow my stories are entertained by them. My muse of late has kinda gone so we'll see how things go.**

 **As Always Enjoy**

 **Xhex xoxo**


	6. The Surprising Unknown

"Victory or defeat can be determined in a single moment's misstep."

\- Kizaru -

* * *

Marco was walking down the commander's hallway on his way to breakfast, half asleep and not as alert as he'd normally be after having stayed up until some ungodly hour this morning doing paperwork for both the first and second divisions - one of these days they'd find someone to command the second division - when he almost ran into Ann.

As he grabbed a hold of her shoulders to stop her from colliding with him, because at the moment she was paying even less attention to her surrounding than he had been, she didn't even react to his sudden presence and that had him watching her with no small amount of curiosity as she stifled a yawn with one hand while her other hand rubbed at her eyes, not even slightly bothered by the fact that someone had grabbed her. It was very trusting on her part... and very confusing for Marco. Ace was currently trying to behead the Old Man, yet the hothead's twin wandered around the ship completely at ease... like this was her home now and she trusted the crew even though her brother obviously didn't.

Marco felt the final dregs of sleep clear from his mind at that thought and took in her appearance, feeling his eyebrows rise of their own accord; Ann currently was, for lack of a better word, colourful.

Smudges of different colours - mostly varying shades of blue, green and yellow - covered her clothes, arms, what he could see of her legs, her face... it was even streaked through her hair. The bright blue, the same colour as his sash, stood out in startling relief against her sandy blonde hair that was done up in a messy bun.

It was then that Marco realised who's room she'd just come out of; hair dishevelled and looking like she'd just woken up... or possibly not even have gone to sleep... her blouse's buttons were even done up wrong for god sake, and suddenly felt the insane urge to go hunt down his womaniser of a brother and introduce the gingers head to the deck... a few hundred times.

The rational side of his brain tried to reason that Thatch had been on watch last night and even as stupid as the ginger could be he wasn't actually irresponsible and wouldn't just neglect his assigned duties.

Yet the rational side of his mind couldn't come up with an excuse in that moment for why Ann was coming out of Thatch's room looking like- and that was where Marco tried to stop that particular train of thought as the irrational side of him began to supply his mind with answers that made him feel like putting Thatch in the infirmary for a few weeks.

And it was that last violent impulse that pulled him up short and had Marco blinking suddenly owlish eyes at the women who had still yet to acknowledge his presence because she was still preoccupied with rubbing at her face and yawning. It was actually a godsend that she hadn't responded to his presence yet Marco thought, because he was quite sure that he currently looked utterly ridiculous as he stood there holding her shoulders and staring at her like an idiot.

Was he, the first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Marco the Phoenix, a man who'd sailed on the Grandline for countless years, seen a whole world of wonders and experienced things that not many people could imagine in their wildest dreams; was he who thought he'd experienced almost all life had to offer... jealous?

It was an all too startling concept, one that he hadn't ever encountered before.

When he'd first laid eyes on the petite blonde his only thought had been that she'd fit in well with their family. And while Marco had no problem with crew members getting together, Rakuyo and Sible had been an item for close to eight years now and Pop's was still hounding them for grandkids, the thought of his ginger brother shaking up with the teen - Marco would be genuinely surprised if Ann was older than twenty-two. And that assumption was only based on how old he figured Ace was, they were twins and it was a lot easier to estimate a males age than a females; Marco was the exception to that rule - had Marco's Phoenix half in a right foul mood.

Truthfully Marco had been aware of his other halves peaked interest since he'd caught Ann's burning fist that first night and his Phoenix fire had come out to protect him. And ever since then the fucking bird had been an ever increasing presence in his mind, acting like an itch he couldn't scratch and something that he couldn't quite ignore.

It was like the thing with the bloody dates all over again... except this time the bird was fixated on a person instead of food.

It was always hard explaining how things worked as a Zoan, except that was, to other Zoan's. It wasn't that Marco had some bird living inside of him, but more like his soul had separated into two completely different ones when he'd eaten the devil fruit; one very much human and the other a Phoenix with all its own animal traits and habits. They lived in complete symbiosis though, bleeding together over the years in a way that allowed Marco to unconsciously access his animal counterpart's remarkable abilities. Or at times like this, squash the ridiculous impulses that said animal was currently bombarding him with... because he was definitely not about to show off his tail ringlets or keep the small blonde close to him... like glued to his side close.

No fucking way.

His only saving grace from a potentially embarrassing situation was due to the fact that he had a greater deal of control over his abilities than someone who'd only just eaten a fruit... otherwise he was positive he'd have had Ann shoved up against the closest wall while he rubbed his scent on her before- What the fuck was going on Marco wondered as he suppressed the urge to groan at the things his other half wanted to do.

"Huh... oh it's you." Ann's voice snapped him out of his downward spiral into 'I'm going fucking crazy-ville' and he finally focused on her just as she dropped her hands to smile sleepily at him. "Mornin' Pineapple." The flaming turkey - and he'd never let Thatch know that he'd referred to his counterpart by that nickname - practically crooned and it took everything that Marco had to stop himself from actually giving voice to what was echoing in his mind.

Her sudden friendliness after the way she'd acted the other day however had all of his danger sensors going on high alert and was enough to override any and all of the stupid impulse his animal counterpart had been coming up with in the last few minutes. He was so busy being worried about her sudden change in behaviour that he wasn't even bothered by the stupid nickname that she'd come up with for him.

Only two days ago she'd been adamant about violating him in the most painful of ways with a certain spiky fruit. Now she was smiling warmly at him? What the hell was going on he wondered.

Letting go of her shoulders like she'd burnt him Marco actually took a step back from the little blonde - make that four - and looked at her the way one would view an animal that you weren't quite sure was safe to approach.

"Common, let's go get breakfast." And then Ann pushed the situation in a whole new realm of 'what the fuck' when she leant forward and grabbed a hold of his hand, threading her fingers through his before turning to walk down the corridor towards the stairs, quite easily managing to drag him along behind her as well seeing as he was too busy trying to decide if this was some jacked up dream or not.

Going by the way his Phoenix was currently carrying on Marco guessed it was all too real.

Which begged the question: Exactly what the hell was going on?

...And more importantly: How much of a headache was it going to give him?

* * *

I had to steal myself against laughing at Marco's reaction to my sudden friendliness as I dragged him along behind me. The fact that I could so easily drag the apparently stubborn first division commander - Thatch had told me as such when he'd wished me good luck convincing the stubborn bastard to follow me when I'd said about half an hour ago that I was going to get the blonde before someone ruined my plans - spoke volumes of how much I'd managed to fluster the man with just a few simple friendly actions.

I couldn't fault him for his weary hesitation though. As far as I knew, Thatch had undoubtedly told him every colourful thing I'd said and suggested the other day after the blonde commander had left the infirmary. But his current expression of utter stupor was one that I never thought I'd see on a seasoned pirate, especially the infamous Phoenix. It was utterly priceless. And if I didn't think that what I'd finished doing with Thatch only an hour or so ago was payback enough for the other day I'd stop to get a photo of Marco's face with the small Polaroid I had my fingers wrapped around in my borrowed pants pocket and give the ginger I was quickly coming to see as a good friend something else to torment his brother with.

Truthfully I was just relieved that I'd managed to run into him after I'd finished returning my sewing pins to the blue trunk that was still in Thatch's room. I really wanted to see the commander's reaction to my flattering artwork for myself instead of having someone tell me. Roman had called me 'mercilessly cruel' when he'd come over with a bunch of other curious pirates to see what Thatch and I had been doing.

As I neared the door that lead out onto the upper deck I could hear a whole heap more voices than when I left; pirates really were gossip queens. It sounded like every single bloody Whitebeard crew member was out there... and going by the laughter they'd all already admired my handy work.

"What the hell is going on out there?" I paused not two meters from the door and looked over my shoulder to see that Marco half managed to regain some of his wits and was currently frowning at the space behind me like he could see through the solid surface.

Letting his hand go I turned around and grinned at him "Consider us even now Pineapple."

I watched his blue gaze narrow, the colour not unlike the ocean on a clear sunny day, and fought the urge to chuckle as I moved the remaining steps backwards while keeping him in my sight so I could wrap my hand around the doors handle and afford myself a quick escape.

"What did you do?" He moved closer to me, schooling his features into the infuriatingly impassive mask he usually wore... except I could see the simmering irritation radiating from him. It was there in the slight downward turn of the corner of his lips, the twitch at the edge of his left eyebrow and the subtle way his jaw was set.

"If you want to find out I suggest you go stand on the figurehead and see for yourself." I laughed and pushed the door handle down and quickly slipped out and into the throng of pirates before Marco had a chance to grab me as it looked like he had been about to do.

It was relatively easy to slip between the large crowd of pirates that were mulling around on deck to get back to where Thatch had said to meet him, most were laughing while pointing to the front of the ship, some were making bets, a few were wondering who'd be crazy enough to piss off Marco which had me grinning stupidly as I continued to weave my way through them.

As I got closer to the sunken part of the deck where the ginger had said he'd be waiting I easily recognised Whitebeards large form even with his back to me and slowed my pace down, approaching the area with hesitant curiosity. I'd only seen three others on board so far that were of the same imposing stature - all division commanders - and they too currently were seated near their Captain, along with what I recognised as the rest of the division commanders; so far I'd only met the first, fourth, fifth, tenth and the sixteenth.

Moving closer I realised that Whitebeard was sitting in a huge seat that was built into the middle of the two rows of steps leading down into the semi-circle depression, drinking from a huge tankard that a few nurses were currently giving sour looks to while the commanders and a few other pirates that I hadn't seen before lounged on the steps around him, all of them watching with varying degrees of amusement at the crew members up on the figurehead howling with laughter.

My observation of the elite group of individuals was brought to an abrupt end however when Izo spotted me and made my presence to the rest of the gathered pirates known. "Finally the Picasso shows up."

Izo raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at me and stopped short of hugging me when I climbed down the steps to the sunken part of the deck, taking in my appearance with scrupulous eyes "You look like you rolled around in paint." He tsked as he stopped a meter away from me and dropped his arms.

"Oil pastels actually." I corrected, a cheeky grin pulling at my lips when he took a step back from me. "What's the matter Izo? You still want that hug?"

The cross dresser visibly blanched. "Don't even think about getting any of the crap on me."

I laughed along with the rest of those around me and left Izo alone to go sit down between Thatch and a huge man that I knew from looking at bounty posters was called Jozu. He looked pretty intimidating with that stony face look of his.

"Finished admiring our handy work?" I looked to Thatch and then back to the one lone sail that was unfurled on the ships foremast that I knew held my detailed picture of Marco's head with the body of a blue chicken - Thatch had informed me that that would get a better reaction than my original design and as he knew Marco better I'd followed his advice - surrounded by pineapples and a comic style speech bubble with 'YOI' in big bold back letters.

"No," beside me, Jozu snorted and I swung my gaze up to him as he grinned down at me "he's hiding near Pop's so Marco won't kill him."

"No I'm not." The ginger protested from the other side of me.

"Common Thatch, you're the one who started the whole blue chicken thing. He's going to know you had a hand in this. No rookie would even get that reference." A balding man who was smoking a cigar while he sat coating a sword in some type of liquid substance stated without looking up. I was pretty sure that his name was Fossa.

"Yeah," I turned to look at Thatch "are you going to let me know what the hell that's about now?"

"Gurararara" Whitebeards laughter filled the air and I swung my gaze to the huge pirate as he was finishing taking a big drink from his tankard "Look to the bow if you want your answer brat."

Just as I turned my curious gaze towards the direction that the rest of the commanders and Whitebeard were looking at a bright flash of azure fire lit up the surrounding area - the same colour as the fire I'd seen come from the first division commander those two times - followed by panicked yells of the pirates that were up on the whale figurehead as an extremely loud and shrill shriek rent the air.

I watched in horrifying fascination as something... some flying creature – a bird? - made of what looked like blue fire ripped the large piece of canvas off the sail - and in that moment I was glad that we'd only loosely pinned it on - before making a beeline towards where I were sitting.

"Get ready to run you two, Marco seems a tad pissed."

My eyes widened at Izo's words and I realised that the large blue bird was in fact the first division commander... I'd always just assumed that his epithet was some stupid nickname that the world government had given him - they had a tendency to give pirates some ridiculous ones; Demon Child Nico Robin came to mind - and not a clue as to the fact that he was a devil fruit user... A Zoan... An extremely rare mythical Zoan... A fucking Phoenix...

A blue Phoenix?

Weren't they supposed to be made of fire?.. And wasn't fire normally red?

I totally got the blue chicken thing now though.

I was too busy watching in awe as Marco shifted back to normal to stand in the centre of the sunken semi-circle while clutching the shredded remnants of my masterpiece to laugh at Thatch's hilarious nickname. That was until I noticed the very unreadable expression on his face that had all of my senses suddenly screaming DANGER!

That feeling only increased when I felt Thatch tense next to me as Marco shifted his gaze our way.

"You two are so dead." - "Fifty says he tosses them in the ocean." - "I'd hurry up and start running if I was yous." - "Fifty says he puts Thatch's head through the deck again!" - "Namur, get ready to fish them out." - "You're on!" - "No way, you fish 'em out this time Blenheim." - "Gurararara! Fifty says the fire brat gets away." - "I vote Izo for hammer retrieval duty!" - "Pops!" - "Like hell I'm going in the ocean and ruining my makeup and hair! You can go Haruta." - "Curiel, I'd get ready to patch up our idiot brother."

As the jumble of voices filled the air I ignored the lot of them bar Thatch as he grabbed a hold of my arm and yanked me backwards with a "Let's get the hell outta here firecracker!"

And I had to agree with him on that notion as I turned and got to my feet to start running... the smirk that I'd just seen on Marco's face as those blue flames had began to play across the tanned features had been quiet spine-chilling. I could easily see it in that one split second glance how he'd earned such a feared reputation.

The majority of the pirates in front of us were now looking our way with wide eyes and hurriedly trying to get out of our way as we ran for the safety of the door that lead to the lower decks, informing me that a certain ragging blue chicken was hot on our tails; I was never going to forget that particular nickname.

Behind me I heard a strangled yell and chanced a glance over my shoulder as I ran... and realised with horror that I should have just bloody kept going. My eyes widened and my stomach dropped as I saw Marco's awe inspiring and absolutely pants shitting inducing (if you were dumb enough to be on the pirates bad side... which I was positive that I currently was) hybrid form with the FUCKING TALONS of his shifted feet clutching onto Thatch shoulders which Marco used to easily lift the ginger into the air seconds before he tossed the squawking man with a surprising amount of force over the side of the ship.

And then he turned that feral grin on me and wouldn't you know I actually stumbled and fell, though surprisingly it wasn't due to any type of fear of the pirate who was undoubtedly extremely dangerous under any other circumstances.

No, the reason for my suddenly uncoordinated feet was due to something else entirely... something that I wasn't quite sure if I'd actually seen. Maybe I'd hallucinated it?

I sorely hoped I'd imagined it...

Because for a second there I could have swore that the look in Marco's stormy blue eyes as he smirked at me had been somewhere along the lines of what one would call positively carnal. Like a hunter that was stalking something it craved.

I was so far fucked right of next week if he'd figured out that I was actually attracted to him.

My feet and hands scraped across the deck as I tried to get some sort of traction so I could get the fuck out of there before I did something embarrassing... like say, blush and involuntarily set fire to my face again.

I'd just managed to right myself when I felt a strong gust of wind stir the hairs at the nape of my neck. Hearing the heavy beat of wings so very close to me I braced myself to be grabbed by those dagger like talons... Except, as I opened my eyes after stupidly closing them, I looked to the person who'd helped me avoid being grabbed by yanking me sideways at the last possible second.

Cruz grinned at me as he reefed me out of the way of again, avoiding another of the commanders attempts to grab me and I found myself running after him as we covered the remaining twenty meters until safety.

Every time it looked like Marco was about to get a hold of me Cruz would somehow anticipate it and move me out of the way. And as I trusted the teen to know exactly what he was doing I just went with the flow of things, allowing him to yank me about like a ragdoll; spinning me here and there to dodge those sharp looking talons.

Over the course of the past five months I'd learnt that the kid's uncanny knack for anticipating and avoiding attacks was astutely accurate. It was during the copious amounts of confrontations that Ace had gotten us into since I'd gotten Cruz off that miserable Island where they'd treated him like a pariah because of his inability to speak that the gangly teen had saved everyone on our crew at least once; everything from a stray weapon to an enemy trying to attack someone from behind, that I'd learned to trust his strange ability one hundred and ten percent.

And because of the fact that I'd also been working closely with him in combat training over the past few months I recognized the small grin on the teens face for what it was as he looked over his shoulder at me seconds before he turned slightly to grab a firmer hold of my arm. Then I was swung around and into an upwards arc; a move we'd only recently perfected and one that most of our crew hadn't believed that the kid had the strength to pull off, and I used the momentum of the swing and channelled the same energy into my foot as I would of if I was punching something the way Jiji had taught me. I felt a resounding relief flood my system as my foot connected with a tremendous amount of force with something, hopefully Marco smirking face, and my pursuer was sent hurling away from me in the opposite direction.

I didn't get much time to relish the thought of having possibly flattened the infamous Phoenix though as Cruz finished spinning me and I was once again off and running after the teen in the next instant, straight for the safety offered by the door that was now only a few meters in front of me.

When I reached the door that Cruz had pushed open and disappeared through I chanced another glance over my shoulder and almost fell over laughing at the sight behind me.

Most of those out on deck were looking at me with either absolute shock or weary trepidation... but that wasn't the most hilarious thing about the scene behind me. I currently had a clear line of sight straight to the wide eyed stare of the blonde who was slumped against the solid bit of wood that acted as the back to Whitebeards seat.

"Better luck next time Pineapple!" I shouted to him, grinning wildly as I saw his normal impassive expression slip into place as he got to his feet. But not before I saw him genuinely smile for some strange reason.

Choosing to be really childish I poked my tongue out at him, earning roars of laughter from the other commanders behind him, before disappearing through the door and to relative safety.

I found Cruz a few meters in from the door, arse against the wall and bent over bracing his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath and approached him wearily; bracing myself to see how much damage he'd done to himself this time.

When he didn't immediately raise his head to my presence it set off slight alarm bells and I grabbed his chin to force him to look up at me, biting back a sudden curse when I got a look at his face; both his pupils were blown and there was a small trickle of blood coming out of one of his nostrils.

"You pushed it a bit too far this time kid. I wasn't in any real danger." Cruz just shrugged his shoulders and grinned at me. I couldn't be angry at the kid though, the only way he was ever going to get a handle on whatever power he'd gotten from the fruit he'd eaten however long ago was to practice it; even though I had no idea what 'it' actually was as Cruz never seemed to be able to explain his abilities properly. As far as I could tell he had some sixth sense type thing going on and overuse messed with his head a bit.

"Common kid.'" I ruffled his blue locks before grabbing his arm and slinging it over my shoulder while wrapping my other arm around his waist "Let's get some food in you and then you can rest it off in my bed in the infirmary."

Maybe I'd see if Doc or Curiel would take a look at the kid... that was if I could convince Cruz to let the doctors anywhere near him though.

* * *

"Holy shit! Was I seeing things or did that brat just manage to best Marco?"

"How in the hell did she manage to get a hit off that powerful?"

As Marco stood there looking at the door that the blonde and the cabin boy had disappeared through with a slight frown he mumbled "Because she used Haki." in answer to Jura's question as he righted his jacket and watched his Phoenix fire heal the forming bruise across his chest.

"No she didn't."

"You sure Marco?"

Ignoring Haruta's comment he answered Atmos's question instead "Yeah yoi, except I've never seen it used like that before. Have you Pop's?"

"Once or twice." The Old Man was looking out to the ocean with a contemplative gaze as he gave his reply.

Before Marco had a chance to question him further, because it had been quite obvious to Marco that the Old Man's once again knew more than he was letting on, Izo cut in with "Well, do you feel like telling the rest of us what the hell just happened?"

Marco sighed before jumping back down to the sunken part of the deck so he could see all of his brothers. "When most people use Busoshoku Haki they cover their skin like an exoskeleton yoi." He explained as he absently allowed his own Haki to cover his arm as he held it up "Ann on the other hand it would seem reinforces her muscles and bones, giving the hit that bit more of a solid impact behind it." He saw the Old Man nod in confirmation of his claim which caused a low murmur of combined voices to fill the air as most of the crew who were still on deck broke into hushed whispers about the rookie's unknown power.

Marco looked to Vista, Jozu and Blenheim, three of the best Haki users on board; following the Old Man and Marco himself that was."It's actually quite clever if you think about it, an enemy wouldn't know how devastating the attack was until they were hit with it."

"That begs the question though: Where do you think she learnt it? Because Thatch said the other day that she had no idea what Haki even was." Vista stroked the length of one side of his moustache as he everyone else contemplated his own words.

Beside the fifth division commander Jozu shrugged his shoulders. "A natural maybe"

"Hey Namur," Haruta's sudden panicked tone had all their eye's turning to the brunette who pointed to the side of the ship "shouldn't you be going to pull our brother out of the ocean before the current takes him too far away?"

"Shit!" The rest of the commanders laughed as the fishman ran for the side of the ship and drove off, the majority of the crew on deck also running to the side of the ship that Marco had tossed Thatch off of. Marco was secretly glad that he wasn't the only one who'd forgotten about their brother due to Ann surprise attack.

"You know you can't stay angry at the idiot now." Vista laughed out a few minutes later when Namur jumped back onboard with a sputtering and coughing fourth division commander who's gaze immediately found Marco... and he guessed Vista was right in the statement because if looks could kill Marco's fire would be currently healing him from the scathing glare that Thatch was sending his way.

Besides, right now Marco was more interested in learning how that kid had been able to dodge attacks that even seasoned Marines had trouble avoiding than being pissed off at Thatch over giving Ann the idea behind that ridiculous drawing.

Were there going to be any more surprises from the remaining members of the former Spade Pirates Marco wondered as he went off in search of coffee, leaving the rest of his brothers to deal with a cursing Thatch... because even with all of the excitement of the past half hour he was still bloody tired and needed something to help get him through the remainder of the day and think about what the hell had just happened.

* * *

 **Next time: Ann requests sanctuary... but from who?**

* * *

 **GreenDrkness: More like fire in general. If you're referring to him aiming his fire at her then yeah,** **Ace seems a bit douchy now but shit should sort itself out eventually... but if you're referring to how Ann got her powers then fear not, all will be clarified soon enough. Ace is not that much of an asshole no matter what Ann says. 😀**

 **GalliumStoat: Cheers 😆**

* * *

 **As Always Enjoy**

 **Xhex xoxo**


	7. The Strangly Comfortable Silence

"I think I like you."

\- Boa Hancock -

* * *

"For the last fucking time, I am not going to hit you so you can see if your Haki can withstand my punch." I growled at the pirates who were once again irritating me... for the fifth day in a fucking row.

To say I was over it was an understatement.

Ace in all his brooding anger had even been able to tell that something was pissing me off when I'd seen him earlier... well something other than my growing annoyance over his inability to let this whole 'must take Whitebeard's head and prove I'm a bigger cockhead than Roger' thing go that was.

I'd brought him food this morning before his first of what was averaging to be about three attempts a day to kill Whitebeard, sitting with him as he'd wolfed down the scrambled eggs before I'd left him so I could go sit with Thatch, Roman, Blamenco, Curiel, Namur and Izo to see what the dimwit would try this time. Half an hour later I had been listening to the commanders placing bets on what Ace would do and how their Pop's would retaliate when the idiot had tried to lop the Old Captains head off from behind with an axe. I hadn't even batted an eye when Whitebeard punted him off the side of the ship for that one; I would have done the same bloody thing. Ace knew better than to attack someone in such a cowardly way.

I hadn't seen the seething idiot since then though; it probably had something to do with how I'd laughed and taken photos of him once Namur had fished his arse out of the sea. Or it was more than likely because I'd told the fishman that his catch was a tad on the limp and lame side of things while Ace had still been slung over the fishman's shoulder causing Namur to do something that had made me howl with laughter... While taking more photo's of course.

And it was those pictures - mine plus the two dozen I'd received from various other crew members that Thatch had roped into helping him - that I was currently working with at the moment... well I had been working with until I was found once again. The page I was currently doodling on, titled 'Namur's disappointing catch: Tales of Ace the guppy!' featured a picture of the fishman with a huge toothy grin holding a drenched and groggy Ace like a prized catch, laid open before my crossed legs while I gritted my teeth and counted to ten.

I had just started adding fishing rods around them...

Now however, I felt like breaking the brown pencil in my hand as the crowd of pirates who wanted me to either spar with them, teach them how I did what I did or ask a million and one questions about how I'd figured out how to use Haki the way I apparently did grew by the minute.

"Common firecracker, I'm still finding it hard to believe that the person who taught you how to hit like that didn't tell you that you were using Haki. Even if you do use it in the weirdest way I've ever seen." I glared at Thatch, the idiot who'd lead the first group of slowly growing pests over to me as his words sent said pests off into another round of irritating pleading and questions that made me want to yank my hair out... or light theirs on fire.

Oh how I was sorely tempted to break my own rule about only using my fire strictly for defensive purposes.

"It is not weird!" I huffed out in response to the ginger, ignoring the other pirates as I closed the slowly filling scrapbook documenting Ace's stupid antics in my own brand of comedic detail. It was becoming plainly obvious to me that I wasn't going to get to finish my current piece with this lot around.

"I just figured that if I could hardened my bones and muscles" I continued as I put my art supplies back in my large pencil case before zipping it up and placing it on top of the book "the next time that Jiji threw me and my brothers off cliff or into the jungle my organs wouldn't end up bruised from the harsh landings. A few bumps on the skin are nothing compared to a bruised lung." I shuddered at that particular memory. "And the last time he visited it kinda just happened when he shoved us down an old abandoned mine shaft on Mt. Colubo. I had no fucking idea it was Haki and I doubt Gar-Gramps knew about it either considering he was gone by the time we got out. And then Ace and I left before he got a chance to visit us again." My anger slightly cooled at having almost dropped Garps name... what a cluster fuck that would have been.

"Why the hell would your Grandfather throw down a mine shaft?" I looked over to one of the men who'd been badgering me since I'd flattened the Pineapple Asshole - Asshole being my newest add on to my nickname for him. And he rightly deserved it too after what he'd done too - at hearing the complete bewilderment in the pirate's voice.

Looking around I noticed that most of those who were sitting around me, having disturbed my peace as I'd been happily lounging in the sun on the ships figurehead before they came along, all wore varying looks of shock and disbelief.

"It was his idea of training." I shrugged as I got to my feet, grabbing my book before Thatch could run off with it again so he could copy the pages to hang them on a wall in the mess hall.

"Oi, she's over here!" As another group of pirates came over to undoubtedly pester me about something that I'd always just done instinctively as a form of defence I groaned angrily, getting absolutely fed up with everyone.

Was there anywhere on this fucking ship that I could get five minutes of peace?

* * *

Marco scuffed the heal of his foot against the wall his work desk rested up against again, sure in the fact that after all of these years there was probably a very well worn patch on the wooden pannels from where he'd incessantly but most of the time unconsciously rub the heal of his left sandal when he couldn't make sense of something or was having difficulty writing a report.

Normally he found a sense of relaxation in the tasks of filling in log books, going through the other commander's reports to make lists of things the ship and crew as a whole needed, plotting the ships course or writing up the spendage and battle reports for the first and second divisions...

Except for right now that was.

No, right now he was anything but relaxed and it showed by how many times he raked his fingers through his hair that was probably now standing on end as the constant sound of tapping and scuffing filled his large room that was both his office and bedroom. Because now he was not only grinding his heal against the wall but kicking the wood as well with his right foot.

He just couldn't for the life of him make sense of the dam report in front of him.

While Docs handwriting was neat as could be, it was what was written in the medical report that was doing his head in at the moment.

There in plain black letters read;

 **Name: Last: Unknown. First: Cruz.**

 **Sex: Male.**

 **Age: Fourteen. Date of Birth: June 20.**

 **Next of Kin: Portgas D. Ann. Next of Kins Relationship to Patient: Adoptive Sister.**

 **Allergies: Unknown.**

 **Special Notes: Mute. Devil fruit user; abilities unknown.**

 **Incident Summary: Patient presented to infirmary with dilated pupils and bloody nose. Slightly disorientated but otherwise possessing normal motor and cognitive functions. Informed that this is a normal consequence of patient overusing devil fruit powers. Unable to elaborate on or explain abilities.**

 **Summary: Overnight observation required.**

 **Discharge Summary: Further investigation into DV powers required.**

There were some other notes on the kid's height, weight and a few other medical things down the bottom of the page but Marco paid only a moment's notice to the words, finding nothing that would actually help him understand the part that was currently giving him a headache.

It had been almost a week since the incident up on deck and at the time Marco had been positive that the kid was some Haki prodigy... until Doc had asked to speak with him and Pops later that night and shown the pair this report that was.

For once the Old Man had been just as stumped as Marco; it was both refreshing and unnerving at the same time to say the least.

Marco had tried to get answers out of the other former Spade Pirates except they too knew next to nothing about Cruz's devil fruit abilities. In fact the only thing that had been unanimously said about Cruz was that the kid had a knack for being in the right place at the right time; saving most of the crew members from potentially dangerous situations by the skin of their teeth quite a few times.

To Marco that sounded like Kenbunshoku Haki, the ability to sense the presence of people, animals and objects and predicting their movements.

Except when he'd managed catch up with Cruz, and thankfully Roman had been there as well, the day after the incident that the crew were still going on about to try and get some answers out of the teen it had only lead to Marco once again being in the shit with Ann.

Which was another entirely different problem all in itself.

He'd wanted to talk to her as well, not just about Cruz but also where or who she'd learnt to harden her muscles and bones from. But that prospect had been completely blown to hell when his instant need to understand that which he couldn't had lead to Marco upsetting the cabin boy and had resulted in Ann yelling at him in front of his fellow division commanders, Oyaji and a quarter of the bloody crew who were mulling around on the ship's deck; much to everyone's - in particular the Old Man's - amusement.

He was currently the butt of a few too many jokes for his liking but at least the only ones who were game enough to poke fun of him to his face so far were only the other commanders; Thatch in particular revaled in the prospect of giving Marco shit over it. And then there were all the off handed and critic things that the Old Man had been saying to him since then, something about looking forward to spring time... Whatever the hell that meant?

As Marco sat there staring at the thin manila folder he reflected back on what exactly he'd done to push the little blonde to just shy of punching him. Thatch hadn't been mistaken in saying that Ann was very protective of Cruz.

Truthfully, when the kid had started fidgeting and looking uncomfortable after Marco had explained what Kenbunshoku Haki was and Cruz had informed him via Roman that that wasn't what he was doing Marco had known then and there that he should have backed off. But like a bull at a gate he'd pushed the matter, going so far as to get a pen and paper for Cruz to write an explanation down when the kid had been unable to explain to Roman with the gestures he used.

And Marco had kept trying to push the matter even when Roman had asked him to drop it. Cruz had just sat there staring at the paper blankly for ten minutes while Marco had thought that he was helpfully supplying the kid with adjectives when suddenly, in the first display of anger that he'd seen from the teen, Cruz picked up the paper, turned it into confetti then stormed off.

How was he supposed to know that as of only six months ago Cruz had been illiterate and at the moment only knew how to write the very basics of the English language?

He did now though.

Ann had made it abundantly clear though that he was to lay off her little brother. Saying that the kid would explain how his fruit worked when he could, not when some asshole tried to make him. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she'd been calling him the asshole.

Though the fact still remained that they currently had a person on board, a kid none the less, in control of devil fruit powers that no one besides the user knew what they specifically were or did and it had Marco feeling rather powerless, which was something that he hadn't experienced in a very, very long time.

His growing headache at the moment was caused by not being able to figure out which devil fruit power in the vast variety of ones that there were in the world Cruz could possibly have. It was definitely a Paramecia but that was about all he'd deduced of the matter.

Marco was just about to begin hitting his head against his desk out of sheer frustration when his door was thrown open so quickly that he actually jumped slightly before it was just as quickly slammed closed. He'd been so engrossed in trying to figure out this latest mystery that he hadn't even sensed the last person he'd ever expect to be near him being so close. In fact, after the other day he was genuinely surprised to see Ann leaning with her back against his door while one of her hands groped around until she found the doors lock, engaging it as she let out a ragged breath before sliding down the door to sit on the floor

He sat at his desk blinking stupidly in her direction as she sat with her knees up to her chest and her head tipped backwards against the door, keeping her eyes closed as she breathed raggedly like she'd just ran all the way here. It was quite easy to see the strain in the young women's face as she sighed in what sounded like relief.

Yet Marco's attention moved away from Ann's face as his Phoenix stirred inside and he found his eyes wandering downward, taking in her lithe and toned figure.

A few days ago he'd first seen her in what he was beginning to believe was her normal wear; much like how he always wore his purple jacket and blue sash. He'd been thoroughly conflicted over the outfit. Black leather knee high sea boots, a white three quarter sleeve button up blouse; the ends tied in a knot at her waist. She changed the coloured tank-top daily that she wore underneath the blouse while she usually wore her hair up in a bun with that red bandana folded and tied around her head like a headband... And to top it all off an Orange belt with an A on the buckle - he'd seen Ace with wearing almost the exact same one - holding up the tiniest pair of black denim short shorts that he'd ever seen.

On one hand he'd be lying if he said that he didn't mind the view but on the other hand he couldn't seem to shut up the constant shriek that was his animal counterpart getting bent out of shape when he'd notice some of the other crew members doing the exact same thing that he was.

The bird was beginning to piss him off.

Currently he could see a good deal of the bottom curves of her arse as the shorts that he was both growing to love and hate at the same time rode up because of the way she was sitting. But what really caught his attention in that moment was what looked to be part of a tattoo poking out from where the shorts had ridden up her left hip.

"I demand sanctuary!" Her sudden words broke him from his study of the thick black lines as he tried to guess at what the tattoo was and he quickly shifted his eyes up to her face, almost breathing a sigh of relief to see that she still had her eyes closed and hadn't noticed where his roving gaze had been mere seconds ago.

"From?"

He raised an eyebrow when she opened her eyes and looked at him from the corner of them without moving her head, clearly reading that she was still irritated with him and that this was the last place she actually wanted to be in the twin chocolate depths.

"Your entire bloody crew and my three insufferable brothers!"

* * *

It was the last place I wanted to be at the moment but also the last place that everyone would look for me. I was a hundred percent positive about that fact.

I'd figured it out when Roman had tried to drag me off to the infirmary to get my stitches checked, managing to slip away from the nag because like hell was I going back there again; not when I wasn't sure if I'd run into the she-beast.

I honestly didn't have the energy at the moment to tolerate anyone poking or prodding at me. Between Roman trying to drag my to the infirmary, Ace's angry outbursts, Cruz suddenly pulling a disappearing act and more than half of Whitebeards crew pestering me at every possible opportunity I was a right jumbled mess of twitchy irritation, managing to only sleep for at most an hour at a time over the past few days. And the longer this insomnia crap went on the more irritable I got.

"Three brothers?" I heard the curiosity in Pineapples tone and I turned my head to look at him while huffing and rolling my eyes.

"Ace, Roman and Cruz." I elaborated. "Well not exactly Cruz seeing as he's been avoiding everyone since **YOU** embarrassed him." I grumbled as I got to my feet to peer curiously around the room.

It was decently sized, certainly much bigger than the one I'd had as first mate. The door I'd just come through was situated in the centre of the room which seemed to be divided into two different areas; to my immediate right was a dressing table, it's top covered in books, trinkets and other odds and end while over in the farthest corner at the back, mostly right side of the room looked to be at least a queen sized, if not a king, bed, it's headboard against the right wall that was decorated with all manner of things pinned to its wooden surface while one of its sides rested against the back wall. Its blankets and pillows left in a haphazard arrangement looked oh so inviting to my sleep deprived mind. There was also a bedside table with a lamp and another book on it next to it.

The left side of the large room had a desk, book cases built into the wall starting from beside the door I had been leaning against and going right the way to the left wall, which also one giant floor to ceiling book case. The far left wall of neatly stacked books had what appeared to be a door in the middle of it though. I paid it a brief amount of attention, wondering where it went to before I moved my gaze back to the room's owner who was leaning back in the desk chair watching me with a raised eyebrow as I looked around his room.

"So what exactly have my crew mates done yoi, to make you resort to hiding in here of all places?"

"They won't leave me the hell alone, that's what." I bit back. "Look, just let me chill out in here for a bit and the next time you do something that ultimately pisses me off" At his snort I added "because you know you will, I promise not to cut your balls off in front of your crew mates again."

"Besides," I huffed out, a small pleading tone in my voice "no one will think to look for me here and if they do I doubt they have the balls to just walk in here."

"Unlike you, you mean."

I could hear the amusement in his voice and I turned to bite back with a sarcastic reply. Instead I felt my brows rise as I noticed how he wasn't exactly hiding his emotions behind that permanently bored expression he usually wore when I'd caught glimpses of him around the ship these past few days. No right now his facial expression matched his tone, blue eyes alight with amusement, lips stretched into a lopsided smirk...

That was until a slight frown marred his brows and his smirk fell, blue eyes gazing at me seriously. "I am sorry about how I handled things with Cruz. It was my intention to upset him."

"I know that now." I relented all of my anger on a heavy sigh "Look, I get where you came from with the questions. If the roles were reversed and it was some unknown devil fruit user on my ship, around my family, I'd be apprehensive too and I'd certainly want to know if they were a treat to my family."

I narrowed my eyes at him and pegged him with my most 'hurt my family again and I will end you' stare. "But as his older sister I still have the urge to punch you in the face considering that Cruz is now avoiding me and the rest of our brothers."

"So Kiren wasn't joking when he told Thatch the other day that you'd adopted all of your crew members as brothers. Practically bullying them into I think was the phrase."

"What of it?" I questioned with an unmistakable bite to my tone. It was a knee jerk reaction to the clear amusement in his tone, come about from the many other pirate crews and marines that had mocked us because we acted more like a family than subordinates blindly following the orders of a tyrannical Captain.

"Oi oi, I didn't mean anything bad by it. You actually have a lot in common with Oyaji in that regard yoi." I blinked, my anger fading like a wave.

Right, if there was one crew that would understand how we'd operated as a family it would be Whitebeards. Except I collected brothers like unspayed cats where as the Yonko had installed himself as the Patriarchal figure, giving countless lost souls a place to call home... a safe port from the endless storms of this world.

...Somewhere to belong.

"What's that like?" I asked quietly, feeling something akin to jealousy mixed with a deep longing fill my heart.

"What's what like?"

"Having a parent?" When had my voice turned to a hesitant whisper?

He raised a quizzical brow and I felt myself wanting to squirm under his scrutiny. "Thatch said you mentioned a Grandfather. Surely he raised you?"

"You'd think so but no." I tried to smile but I was pretty sure I failed in that regard, it never quite reaching my eyes as the sadness of a childhood longing outweighed my attemps to put on a convincing front. "I do have a Grandfather, he just thought it was more appropriate for us to live with mountain bandits." I didn't miss the way Marco's eyes widened at that statement. "We were lucky if we saw him once a year and most of that time was spent with him subjecting us to his own weird brand of training and survival tactics. I love the old fool but Ace and I practically raised ourselves after our parents abandoned us to this fate."

The mood had gotten suddenly gloomy so I grinned widely at Marco, blinky suddenly itchy eyes and preying that no tears would fall. "But on a positive note, I know I can survive if I was to get standard somewhere for a while. I can track, kill, dress and cook my own food and also find or make my own shelter. How many kids at six did you know could do that?"

* * *

After Ann had revealed those startling facts about her and Ace's childhood they fallen into a short but awkward silence that was thoroughly broken when the little blonde had proceeded to make herself at home in his room like she hadn't just spent the past five days glaring daggers at him.

She'd ended up sitting with her back leaning up against the side of his bed, drawing in the book that he knew the rest of the commanders were helping her to create while he'd shifted through reports and old log books for supplies lists; the silence occasionally broken by one of them asking some random question that was on their mind.

Nothing too personal, but also nothing as boring as say, the weather. He'd learnt that she liked camping in the jungle, especially when it rained, that she was somewhat skilled in carpentry and her preferred method of combat was either hand to hand or a bowstaff. Ann in turn had asked things like what types of Islands had he been to and which one was his favourite; a spring Island not too far from the calm belt in the south blue, if he'd ever met any other types of mythical Zoan's; which he hadn't and whether he'd ever come close to killing Thatch over the gingers pranks; which he almost had a time or two.

When she'd started to constantly yawn and her eyes had continued to droop down sleepily Marco had suggested that perhaps she should go to bed, finding out in her explantive filled rant about psychotic nurses, her temper tantrum throwing twin and Marcos irritating crew mates - that his innocent suggestion had apparently warranted - that she hadn't been sleeping properly and had no intention of going to either the infirmary or to the room her twin occupied in the near future.

He'd left as her head had began to bob while she fought against the sleep she so obviously needed with the intention of remedying the problem of her current sleeping arrangements.

But what had meant to be no more than a ten minute trip, twenty tops, had turned into an hour long adventure around the Moby with Marco first ending up sidetracked talking to Oyaji before going in search of Sible, eventually finding her down in the armoury rubbing polishing oil into a purring Chomp, Rakuyo's devil fruit powered weapon.

Marco had never been able to understand how the pink haired women had been able to win over the cantankerous flail, but nowadays it wasn't surprising to see the animated ball and chain with the women whenever the seventh division was at home on the Moby. It was a good thing that Marco had Phoenix fire though, because it had tried a time or two over the years to take a chunk out of him.

So he wasn't all that surprised to find Ann asleep when he got back to his room after finally finding his sister and making sure that it was ok to let Ann use the women's old room seeing as Sible hadn't used it in close to eight years now. Marco was pretty sure the pinkett and a few of the other women were currently using it for excess storage but was reassured that there was still a bed in it.

Yet at the sight of her crashed out in the middle of his bed an unfamiliar feeling stirred in the recesses of his being. Something he couldn't quite put a finger on but also something that made him weary about looking to deep into the foreign sensation.

But instead of going over and waking her up to tell her he'd procured her her own room like he probably should have Marco found himself instead leaning against the doors frame studying the petite women who'd at least been courteous enough to kick her boots off so.

And it was as he watched her breath a contented sigh before burrowing her face into one of his pillows that he realised this afternoon was the longest time he'd spent around the women... and it was surprisingly relaxing.

"So Marco..." At the drawled words from behind him Marco felt his shoulders tense, not realising he was no longer alone because of how engrossed he'd been in watching how Ann's sun streaked hair fanned over his black sheets.

Turning around he narrowed his eyes at the Okama who was standing right behind him with a coy smile plastered across his painted lips... a smile which turned positively sinister as his brothers kohl rimmed eyes looked into Marcos room, making the hairs on the back of Marco's neck stand on end. "Why is our resident little blonde enigma currently snuggled up in your bed?"

It was then that he heard the clearing of throats and smothered snickers and cursed a blue streak inside his head... he was never going to hear the bloody end of this he thought looking at the amusement on his other fellow commander's face who were all standing out in the hallway. Vista and Thatch were both wearing matching shit eating grins, the fifth commander stroking his mustache while the fourth wiggled his eyebrows at Marco in a suggestive manner.

Fucking Haki users, Marco thought... he'd been too distracted to remember that he too had some very irritating siblings of his own, who unlike the majority of the crew would and often did invade his personal space. Especially if it was something they could stir him over, like they immediately started to do as he closed his door on a loud sigh and left the sleeping blonde to her blissful unawareness as he went in search of something to eat.

Perhaps he'd go for a very, very, very, long scouting flight Marco thought as he tried to ignore the other commander's questions and jokes.

When Kingdew asked if he should inform Pops that the Old Man would be preforming another wedding in the near future and Rakuyo chimed in saying that Sible still had her wedding dress from when the pair had gotten married which in turn set Izo off about every bride apparently deserving their own special dress as the rest of the commander's howled in laughter Marco decided to go for a very long flight... least he kill one of the morons he was loathe to admit at the moment that he actually cared for.

* * *

 **In for a bit of a time skip next... not much... just enough to push the story along.**

* * *

 **GreenDrkness: Lol, to most that's what it would seem like but Cruz is a hammer. Not love but definitely attracted and intrigued. There will be a war between his human concepts and his animal nature I think**

 **Trevie: Why thank you. Hope you like this chapter too 😚**

* * *

 **I fucked up, I accidentally copied my rough draft instead of my finished piece. Sorry 4 the spam emails. This is the proper one. I realised this halfway through editing chapter 8.**

* * *

 **As Always Enjoy**

 **Xhex xoxo**


	8. The Pain You Inflict

"Being alone is more painful than getting hurt."

\- Monkey D. Luffy -

* * *

Almost two months, a whole fifty-five bloody days had passed since Ace had decided to challenge the strongest man in the world... and has lost in the most spectacularly anticlimactic of ways.

And the idiot was still no closer to taking the Yonko's head or pulling his own stupid head out of his arse and putting a stop to this endless stupidity.

No, not Ace, he was persistent to the point of self destruction and the only way I saw this, whatever the hell this circus act had turned into, (Ace sure reminded me of one of those idiotic clowns at the moment; the ones who kept coming back for more even though they knew they were going to get another pie to the face) ending was for Whitebeard to finally get sick and tired of my brothers antics and end his little hissy fit. Whether by the Yonko ceasing to go easy on my brother and finally putting Ace in the infirmary... or worse... or simply giving up on trying to reason with my idoit sibling and dumping us at the next Island they came across.

It was really anyones guess at the moment... or bet if you were in on it.

As far as I saw nothing short of a fucking miracle was going to get Ace to reconsider his stupid views, it had gone on too long for him to give up without a good reason at this point, his stupid pride was on the line.

It had been as I was attempting to distract myself from today's date with my current task of adding a few more details to one of the pages in the book that I was making of all of Ace's failed attempts to achieve his arse backwards goal that I'd realised how much time had actually passed due to how thick it had gotten. With Ace hitting the big one-double-zero on the amount of times that he'd attempted to murder the pirate whose ship we'd been sailing on for the better part of two months the book was now almost full.

At first he'd attacked Whitebeard a minimum of three times a day, but in the past two weeks his attempts on the Yonko's head had dwindled down until he was now only doing one lone half assed attack a day.

Though some positives had happened in that seven weeks and six days, the main one being that the rest of my brothers had settled into life among the Whitebeard Pirates, almost all of accepting the Yonko's offer to join the crew; the only hold outs being Roman and Cruz. Both had made it quite clear that they'd go where Ace and I went. In fact I'd spent the majority of last night trying to convince the stubborn former quartermaster to accept Whitebeards offer when he'd come to my room to ask me if I'd managed to get through to my twin yet.

Looking up from the page titled 'Don't piss off a Shipwright!' featuring Ace after Whitebeard had put him through three solid walls and Haruta hastily building a coffin out of the broken wood while glaring at splintered hole in the ship that Ace's booted leg was hanging out of, I moved my gaze around the room I was given after the time that I'd embarrassingly fallen asleep in Marco's, feeling slightly depressed as I took in its current blandness.

I had this constant itch to paint the walls... and I especially missed my own bed which was currently packed away in a trunk down in the ships huge storage room. Sible, the rooms former owner and Rakuyo's wife, had told me I could do with the space as I pleased when Marco had shown me to the room on the floor below where the division commanders quarters were. Yet even though I could see Ace's resolve wavering, although his pissy attitude hadn't changed in the slightest, I still had no idea if we'd actually stay or not, so I had somehow managed to keep my obsessive need to make this space my own in check. That didn't mean that I hadn't pinned up the few painting and sketches I'd done over the past few weeks though or unpacked my easel and pots of paints... but it was still very far from what I would have normally done.

At first I was surprised that all of the female members of the crew got their own rooms, only having to share a bathroom in the same manner as the commander's, until I'd learnt that with me onboard the grand total of women had risen to lowly twenty-one.

Carra, the ebony haired women in the room next to mine who I'd come to be good friends with had said that there used to be more women but from the way this clawing sadness had entered her green eyes as she'd talked about it I figured it was a sore subject so I hadn't pried.

In my time here I'd actually made a lot of friends, friends that I could very easily consider family... people that I would happily consider family if given the chance... If only Ace would give this the chance.

There was Blamenco and Haruta, the two shipwrights that I'd just decided one day to help fix up the holes in walls, floors and railings around the Moby caused by Whitebeard putting my idiot twin through them. I got along surprisingly well with Haruta even though he didn't hold back on voicing his current dislike of my twin and I'd found out that Blamenco was the senior shipwright onboard and up until a year ago Haruta had been the sixth commander's apprentice. It was amusing watching the pairs different reactions to any new destruction caused by Ace; Haruta went for the heavy swearing option, teaching me some interesting words and phrases that could have made Dadan blush, while Blamenco usually just laughed it off while pulling all manner of tools and supplies they'd need out from the little pockets on his neck.

When I'd seen him pull multiple large sheets of Cedar wood (and I'm talking 6x1.5 meter sheets) along with huge Adam wood beams out of the pockets I'd curiously asked what else and exactly how much else he had hidden in there.

He'd grinned at me mischievously and told me to go ask Izo.

There was another good friend I'd made even though we butted heads constantly over the fact that I'd outright told the Okama that I refused to wear a dress or make up; he was convinced that he could change my mind while I was convinced he had ulterior motives, which he didn't deny in the slightest and made me ever more wary of what exactly he was up to. I'd eventually gotten him to drop it though when I'd mentioned what Blamenco had said.

I'd found out later from Namur, my new number one poker buddy, that the sixth division commander had teamed up with Thatch to get Izo back for putting makeup on the pair and taking photos after they'd passed out at a party. Apparently they'd taken the entire contents of the cross-dressers room and hidden it in Blamenco's pockets, forcing Izo to dress like a simpleton as he'd put it until they'd reached the next island.

The clothes and everything else may or may not have still been in the overall clad man pockets.

I'd also been thoroughly indoctrinated into the fortnightly girl's night when Carra and Sible had dragged me with them one night to the nurses' station a few floors below.

At first I'd been hesitant because Maybelle had been there but I quickly found out that away from the infirmary, when she hadn't spent the entire day dealing with their stubborn ass Pop's as she had the day I'd met her and after a couple of glasses of sáke that she was a riot. I'd even ended up letting her check my stitches after she'd promised she'd be nice.

The cherry on the cake though had been how she'd promised to make Ace's first physical particularly embarrassing for the constant headache he was causing me. Because "sisters stick together" she'd told me with a smirk and a wink.

And here was the thing, even though I, as the person who known Ace the longest and best, doubted that my brother would miraculously pull his head in and accept Whitebeards offer the rest of the Yonko's crew, including said Yonko, seemed to be of the combined notion, believing with an astounding amount of almost infectious optomisum that we would be staying.

Especially Thatch.

If there was one person on Whitebeard's crew that I thought might have a slim chance at cracking Ace's wall of hostility it was Thatch. Hell, not half an hour after we'd been brought onboard the ship I'd made friends with him, he was just that type of person; easy to get along with and impossible to hate.

I was absolutely in love with the gingers cooking but it was more than just that, a few weeks ago I'd been completely blown away to learn that he'd taken it upon himself to help teach Cruz how to read and write. I could have kissed the forth commander when my little brother had stopped hiding from everyone and actually seemed excited to be getting help from Thatch... although I suspected the ginger was bribing Cruz with food in order to get him to concentrate. But Cruz was happy and learning faster than when I'd been teaching him so I didn't particularly care.

I was also thoroughly amazed at how elaborate and extremely hilarious some of Thatch's pranks could be but I'd found that I liked stirring him more than participating in his tomfoolery... because for someone that dubbed himself a self proclaimed lady's man, boy was he easy to fluster. He still wasn't able to look at Marco properly after I'd went up and whispered something in his ear that had made him go red in the face and run from the mess hall like I'd lit his arse on fire after I'd overheard him giving Marco shit about me hanging out in the blonde's room most afternoons.

And that was definitely the most surprising of all the friends I'd made this past month and a half.

I'd actually expected to end up pissed off at Marco again at some point considering our not so stellar track record, but I often found myself enjoying his quiet company as I hid out in his room/office from the still incessantly annoying members of Whitebeards crew; spending hours either reading one of the books from his library or drawing in one or my art books as he did paperwork or drew maps.

Roman still liked to stir me about what I'd thought was a very well hidden attraction to the blonde first mate... and after what had happened with the last person I had a crush on I'd had to assure my somewhat overprotective ass of an older brother that I wasn't going to act on those feelings... because I didn't feel like ruining a very good friendship... again.

Especially when I knew those feelings wouldn't be returned.

Heaving a sigh of frustration at that thought I shifted my gaze to the seemingly innocent looking small blue book that was lying next to me on the bed... my book of Sabo.

It was just after midday and I'd spent almost the entire morning holed up in here stewing in misery as I'd found this year's anniversary more difficult to deal with than the previous ones. Roman had brought me something for lunch a little while ago but other than that I hadn't seen anyone else. I figured he'd more than likely told everyone that I was just catching up on sleep, which wasn't unusual for me, as no one else had disturbed me.

The truth was thought that I just didn't feel like being around anyone... well I did want Ace and Luffy here, though I knew it was foolish to hope that my rubbery little sibling would suddenly appear, but the fact that Ace was literally stuck on the same ship as me but so consumed in his hatred for a man that had only offered him a place in his family that he couldn't even be bothered to open his door when I'd ventured out early this morning to talk to him hurt.

Picking up the hand sized blue book I shoved it down the side of my left boot and reluctantly left the room as I began to hear some strange and loud sounds filtering down through the ships floors that made my curious about what the hell was going on up top.

As I emerged out on the deck I found a party in full swing, my ears immediately assaulted with the sounds of loud music and laughter.

I was just about to turn back around and disappear back to my room, not wanting my gloomy mood to spoil their fun, when I felt a muscular arm drop arcross the top of my shoulders and pull me into that person's side as I found myself blinking stupidly at a mug of what smelt strongly of rum that suddenly appeared in my hands before shifting my gaze to the grinning pirate who had to be onto at least his fifth drink if the light dusting of red on his face was anything to go by as his hip continuously bumped into mine while he absently swayed to the music in the background, occasionally shouting a word or two from the pirate shanty that others were also singing along to in varying degrees of skill.

"Hey there firecracker, I was wondering when you'd wake up and come celebrate with us." The little hiccup at the end of Thatch's words had me convinced that he was probably more than likely on his eighth drink.

And although I would have loved nothing more than to have started stirring the ginger about his inability to handle is alcohol I instead found myself looking around curiously at the rest of the jovial crew, finding most of those I knew in the sunken semi-circle around their Captain who was sitting in that oversized chair drinking from a huge tankard that Maybelle was currently glaring at while he laughed at something Fossa said to make Blenheim spit his drink out.

There was only one person missing from that group though.

But instead of looking for the individual I turned my attention back to Thatch, holding on tighter to my mug as he started to sway to the music which had me swaying along as well and causing some of the brown liquid to slosh over the rim of the mug and onto my fingers.

"What are you celebrating?" I asked rather stupidly, completely perplexed on why they were throwing such an impromptu party. Izo would have said something if this was planned, like he had when they'd celebrated all of the birthdays for the crew born in November on the first of the month only a week ago. The same with October before that and Marco's birthday which had been both fun and amusing.

"Being Alive!" Thatch shouted while jostling me, spilling more of my drink.

"Living?" I still felt confused.

"Exactly! To living!" He shouted as he clanked his mug against mine before chugging down its contents.

All around us other pirates yelled out the same two words before doing with their own drinks exactly what Thatch had done with his.

They were celebrating the fact that they were simply alive?

I felt myself being nudged and turned back to Thatch, seeing the expectant look he was giving me and the drink that was still untouched in my hands.

"I don't get it!"

"What's not to get?" Thatch raised an eyebrow in question.

One of the pirates closest to me chimed in with "We're celebrating because we've made it this far in relatively one piece."

Another added "Yeah, and that's despite how the world sees us."

A round of yeah's were shouted before I heard another say "Or all the battles we've fought over the years."

"And all of the crew mates that we've lost along the way." That statement seemed to be the final tipping point for the group around me as I watched them once again hoist their drinks up, except this time they shouted out random names that I had no clue who the people were but could only assume that they were fallen comrades based of what had set them off, before they once again shouted "To Living!" and downed the contents of their mugs that I hadn't even seen be refilled.

"You see firecracker, despite all the bullshit that's been thrown our way we're still here and able to enjoy the simple freedom of living this life." Thatch said as the others grinned at me.

A slow smile broke out across my lips and I found myself shouting "To living!" before downing my own drink, listening as the other pirates around me cheered.

For the past five years this day had been at the top of my list of worst day of my life. But right then, in that one moment, as I'd watched these pirates celebrate the simple fact that they were here and able to celebrate that fact even though as a major pirate crew they'd probably lost more crew members... more family than I could ever wrap my mind around I'd realised that I was doing a disservice to my brothers memory by continue to wallow in misery every time this date drew around each year.

Sabo would have never wanted that; he'd have wanted me to live that life I had to its fullest.

So I threw myself into celebrating the simple fact that I was alive and able to enjoy myself because I was there with this large collection of misfits who just happened to fit together perfectly.

I sang drunkenly off key with Blamenco, Atmos and Fossa then danced with Thatch, Namur, Carra and Blenheim. I stupidly challenged Kingdew to an arm wrestling contest and then even more stupidly bet Izo, with unspecified stakes, that I could win. And only two hours after I'd arrived I found myself holding Cruz's hair out of his face as he vomited over the side of the ship while glaring at Gunner and Haruta for giving the kid so much grog.

Somewhere in the course of the afternoon's antics I found myself calling Whitebeard Pops; much to the delight of everyone around me, especially said Yonko.

Now I could have said that it was because of the alcohol or because everyone else had been saying it and it had just sort of rubbed off on me, or a combination of the pair but the truth was that it just felt right... it felt good to give someone that special title, not because by veto of the biological lottery they were but because I simply could... because Whitebeard was in my opinion what all parents should strive to be. He offered unconditional love and acceptance with no strings attached... even to an idiot who was bent on taking his head.

Later in the afternoon I was watching the sun set from my perch, lounging on Jozu's shoulder, listening to Pop's tell a story that numerous crew members had pestered him to tell me about the time they'd had to have an extended vacation on an Island that they were docked at after Thatch single-handedly cleared out the entire Moby with a skunk prank, when I spotted said idiot slinking around the outskirts of the party.

Rolling of Jozu's shoulder I managed to land somewhat steadily, though that probably had more to do with Jiru who'd caught me before I hit the deck than anything else, and proceeded to follow my brothers retreating form after thanking the fourteenth commander; picking up a bowl of stew along the way because I was positive that Ace hadn't eaten all day.

I found him towards the back of the ship a few minutes later leaning up against the Quarterdecks railing, his form silhouetted by the colours given off by the sun touching the horizon in a good night kiss.

I walked over to him after placing the bowl down on a nearby barrel "Why don't you come join us Ace?" He startled at my words, turning with his fist raised and his lips pulled back in a sneer until he realised who it was, then he just went back to staring out to the ocean and ignoring me.

I inched closer to him and tried again "Common, there's rum and sàke and all the food you can eat." Food sometimes was a good bribing tool with Ace; it always worked with Luffy.

When he continued to ignore me I went in a different direction. "Romans over there arm wrestling Rakuyo because Izo wanted to see 'which sibling is stronger'. And you should see them Ace they do look like long lost brothers." I laughed. "Gunner keeps trying to hit on the nurses that are trying to make sure Pop's doesn't drink too much but Maybelle-"

"How can you just so easily forget what today is and sit up there drinking with the enemy?" He snapped at me, finally turning to glare at me.

I felt my own anger rise and I harshly bit back "They're aren't the enemy, they've been nothing but kind and patient towards you even though your determined to kill their father just because you're a gigantic jackass with a huge chip on your shoulder about shit you can't change."

"They are the enemy and you're a fucking traitor Ann!" He yelled, fully facing me now.

I saw red at that point and I screamed in anger, aiming a punch straight for his stupid insufferable head.

Ace of course turned himself into fire and my fist just passed right through him. I found myself struggeling to right myself and get away from him as panic flooded my system.

Of all of the days to pull the fire shit he'd chosen today.

"Fuck you Ace!" I yelled at him as I punched him in the chest, my fist actually connecting with him even though he was currently in his elemental state and sending him backwards into the railing.

He slumped towards the floor clutching his chest and looking at me in a mixture of shock and anger which I ignored as any patience I had left for the idiot died right there and I found myself saying exactly what I'd been thinking since this had all started. "You're such a temperamental child! Whitebeard's done nothing to you except offer you a place in his family." I growled out. "They're a real family Ace and they want us to be a part of it. No expectations, just acceptance. But you're too stupid to see that because you're trying to prove that you're better than a fucking ghost."

"And you're a cold uncaring bitch who can so easily forget about her actual family or what day it is." He yelled back from his place on the floor as he rubbed at his chest.

I stopped in my tracks, feeling tears beginning to build in my eye before they spilled in rapid succession down my cheeks in multiple hot rivets. He honestly thought I was capable of that? "I could never forget our younger brother." I said on a cold whisper, practically ripping the small book from boot and throwing it down so it landed open in front of him.

As the flow of tears down my cheeks increased I looked him dead in the eye "I'm done with this bullshit Ace. Do whatever the hell you want, I don't care anymore." Was that really my voice? It sounded so... defeated.

I wanted this one year to be different, to not spend the day mourning the death of my little brother and trying not to remember what the smell of burning flesh was like, or the agonised screams of what had happened at Grey Terminal. I'd seen the opportunity to celebrate Sabo's life, however short it may have been, and also to take my mind off the memories that made my heart clench and my stomach threaten to turn and I'd seized on it... enjoying the reprieve from the thoughts that made it hard for me to close my eyes at night...

Until Ace had ruined it that was.

My mind went into a sort of fog at that point, the last thing I was consciously aware of was being back in my room and looking at my tears streaked reflection in the mirror on the wall and thinking in that moment about how much I hated that I looked like one of the people who'd caused this mess in the first place...

Everything after that became a black void though... where the only thing I heard in the cushioning darkness that had taken me from all of that pain that threatened to drown me like the ocean was the echoing screams of some poor soul suffering.

I honestly felt sorry for that person.

* * *

While Marco did enjoy partying with his family, although most of the time he ended up as the one making sure his crew mates didn't fall overboard in their inebriation, but on this particular occasion he'd dissapeared before one of his siblings had thought to begin the usual 'let's see if we can out drink Marco' betting contest.

It was a fruitless effort on his siblings behalf due to his Phoenix; Marco could get drunk if he wanted to but over the years he'd found more enjoyment in watching his crew mates make drunken arses out of themselves and then tormenting them with the stories of what they'd done the next day... or using it as leverage. Mainly Thatch, Haruta, Jiru and Rakuyo as they were the ones to normally instigate the drinking contests.

And it was because of his need for a small semblance of quite that he saw Ace from his current higher up vantage point slinking around on the outskirts of the party.

Marco was just about to go down and attempt to talk some sense into the volatile pirate when he saw an all too familiar crop of blonde hair tied back with a red bandanna appear a short distance away from the seemingly oblivious pirate who was currently looking out towards the ocean. The last Marco had seen of Ann was when she'd been singing along with Thatch to whatever it was that Blamenco was playing on the violin.

He watched her as she set a bowl of something down on a nearby barrel before approaching her still oblivious sibling. Marco wasn't that worried about Ann's safety, honestly she was literally the only one that could get close to Fire Fist over the past two months; Marco could have but he had a feeling that anything he did would just make the situation ten times worse so he hadn't.

Although he was getting really close to doing something he thought as he watched Ann try to coax her brother to come join her, his attention fully on the pair when Ann said something that had Ace turning on her with all the anger of a raging bull.

Marco caught a few of the words yelled between the pair, but the next series of events happened in quick such quick succession that Marco was sure if he'd blinked he would have missed Ann trying to slug Ace, Ace turning to fire and Ann backing away from him in fear before regaining her composure and hitting him with enough force to send him hurling back into the ships railing. Marco honestly felt sorry for Ace as he knew all too well how much one of the blonde's hits hurt but he was also finally able to confirm with one-hundred percent conviction that Ann did in fact use Haki; if she hadn't that hit would have went straight through the flame Logia.

A few more hash words were exchanged between the pair before a chill ran down Marco's spine at the tone of Ann's voice as she pulled a small book out of her boot and threw it at her brother and then stalking off in a way that set Marco's hairs on end after delivering her final words in such an utterly defeated tone.

Marco really didn't know what to make of the situation but as he watched Ace slump dejectedly back against the ships railing while looking at the open pages in front of him he figured that he'd deal with the sibling currently in front of him first before going to check on the other one.

Maybe this would be the final push Ace needed to put all this idiocy to rest Marco thought as he dropped down from yard of the Mizzenmast and walked over to where Ace sat, stopping only to collect the bowl of what turned out to be stew before stooping down to place the food in front of the pirate whose gaze remained looked onto a page decorated with drawings of a smiling blonde haired boy with a top hat and a missing tooth.

When his presence didn't register a response from the ebony haired man, even annoyance at his close proximity would have been better than nothing Marco thought, he got to his feet on a sigh and went to leave.

He'd only gotten a few steps away when he heard "You guys..." spoken in one of the softest tones that he'd heard come from the younger pirate since the time in the infirmary all those weeks ago. Truthfully, after all of this time Marco hadn't even though Ace was capable of doing anything but yelling at anyone who wasn't his twin.

Looking back over his shoulder at Ace Marco watched as the fire user raised his head, his gaze trained on the wall across from him and the expression on his freckled face pretty impossible to read "Why do you call him your father, anyway?"

That was a simple question for Marco to answer and he actually smiled as he did so "Because he calls us his children. To the rest of the world we're all just outcasts. It makes us happy. It's just a word, but it makes us happy." The last part had a grin breaking out over his face.

It was true, to most the words father, son or daughter were just words but to a man that's dream had been to have a family and to a bunch of people that had been rejected by society for simply being different the words made them happy. To the Old Man the words meant the fulfilment of that dream. To Marco the word son meant that he had a place to belong, a home. And he felt the same was true for the rest of his brothers and sisters, even if every single one of their personal circumstances had been different before joining the crew, here they'd found a place to call home.

Marco watched as the emotions played across the young pirates face, watching as the fire Logia's brown gaze, so much like that of Ann's that combined with the freckles it was easy to see that they were related, flicked back to the book in between his combat boot clad feet. What was drawn on those pages seemed to be a tipping point for the young man whose face Marco saw crumble seconds before Ace ducked his head down between his knees, hiding his face behind his crossed arms.

Turning around fully he walked back over to the young pirate, a speech to end this stupidity on the tip of his tongue even though the words weren't exactly practiced. He was just thoroughly over this nonsense. Over his home being needlessly destroyed... over the constant headache it was causing him... over how it seemed to effect his newest and most unexpected friend; it was there in the way he caught her sometimes staring blankly at the pages of a book as she sat in his room escaping from the ever persistent members of the crew.

Mostly though Marco was just over Pop's getting attacked all of the time - even if the crazy old fool didn't seem to mind it at all - because Ace had some vendetta against the Old Man that went well beyond some new upstart rookie wanting to simply take the title of strongest man in the world. No, whatever pushed Ace to go so doggedly after Oyaji's head was something more personal that Marco was yet to figure out, but one way or another this stupidity had to end sometime soon.

Bending down he addressed the pirate even though Ace didn't raise his head from his current hiding place. "Hey, how long are you gonna keep risking your life like this? Make up your mind already. You can't possibly take the Old Man's head the way you are now. Are you gonna get off this ship and start over..." He shifted his gaze to his brothers who'd ventured closer in their drunken partying, shaking his head at them and feeling gratefully when they headed his warning and turned around. "Or are you gonna stay here... and accept Whitebeard's mark?"

Getting up off the ground he left Ace to think on his words, intent on finding the little blonde and making sure she was ok... but not before throwing "The decisions up to you... although you might want to remember that the decision doesn't just effect you." over his shoulder as he walked away.

Because it was true, the decision didn't just affect Ace and even after how angry he'd just seen Ann get at the idiot Marco doubted that she'd stay here if her brother decided to go. And even after everything Ace had done Marco still wanted him to become a part of the crew, his Phoenix was fully on board with any plan that would make Ace stay but Marco figure that had more to with the bird's fixation with Ann than anything else.

Going below deck it wasn't until he'd gone down a flight of stairs that the sounds of the party going on above were muffled enough for him to hear anything else... and what he heard had him beginning to quicken his pace as it was anything but reassuring.

The closer he got to the floor that the women's quarters were on the louder that harrowing scream became and as he burst through the door to Ann's room he knew he'd never be able to get the image of what he encountered out of his mind... however, as he went over to the prone and suddenly deadly silent figure lying in the epicentre of the absolute destruction that encompassed the entirity room it became quite clear to him why Ann had reacted with such fear to anything remotely fire related.

* * *

 **Any guesses as to what state Marco will find Ann in?**

* * *

 **GreenDrkness: I feel Marco's pain, I find myself looking around in confusion and mouthing 'What The Fuck?' more often now than when I was in my early twenties. Cruz will get there. Hopefully things start to pan out soon for our favourite pineapple headed pervert.**

 **Trevie: Glad to make your day. I think Cruz was more frustrated than embarrassed, he knows what his fruit does but can't put it into words and he can't really show anyone for reasons I'll get to later. Thanks, I didn't want Marco to be too overly influenced by the Phoenix as I've read in other ff, nor did I want him to be devoid of those animal aspects as I've also read in others. I feel I found a happy medium.**

 **Guest: Thanks... I laughed for a good ten minutes over that, than I fixed it and kept laughing. Let that be a lesson to me on wearing my bloody glasses 😂**

* * *

 **...well this chapter got a little bit out of hand in length. Don't hate me because I left it on a WTF happened moment.**

* * *

 **As Always Enjoy**

 **Xhex xoxo**


	9. The Scars You Don't See

"It May be Hard Right Now… But You Must Silence Those Thoughts! Stop Counting Only Those Things That You Have Lost! What is Gone, is Gone! So Ask Yourself This: What is There… That Still Remains to You?!"

\- Jibei -

* * *

Marco looked down and suppressed a heavy sigh as he finally saw just how paint smeared he actually was in the early morning light that was dully filtering through the rooms now soot covered porthole window… that sigh threatened to escape however when he saw that his favourite pair of sandals were in the same colourful state as the rest of him, the dried paint would probably be next impossible to get out of the tanned leather.

It wasn't that he hadn't been aware of just how grubby he probably was; in fact Marco would have considered it an outright miracle if he'd been anything but what his current state actually was. Except just like all the hours since he'd heard that harrowing scream, the memory of which still made his skin crawl, Marco really couldn't care all that much about his appearance at the moment. No, for the past twenty minutes he'd been busying himself by focusing on the task of moving the larger pieces of charred rubble that now littered the floor of what was once Ann's studiously organised and predominantly barren room out of the way while simultaneously trying to figure out exactly how he was going to explain this mess than he was with fixing up his appearance, figuring that unimportant task could wait until after the problem that was currently giving him a headache - one which his healing abilities could not help him with in the slightest - was sorted out.

As he moved back towards the epicentre of the room's destruction he was still surprised to see the undamaged floor boards amongst the blackened ruin, but as always he managed to keep his face neutral while his eyes roamed over the silhouetted outline that would perfectly match the blonde if he were to move the remaining few feet and sit back down while crossing his legs.

Marco was still baffled by the unblemished wood. He honestly had no idea that his Phoenix fire could potentially extended to beyond just protecting him let alone inanimate objects... but there was the proof right in front of him, taunting him to explore this new revelation like sighting an islands outline on the horizon after being at sea for weeks. But he honestly didn't have the energy or the inclination to delve into this newly discovered aspect of his Phoenix powers at this point in time… especially as said Phoenix continued to, for lack of a better word, mope in the back of his mind.

His animal counterpart had been that way ever since Marco had left Ann in the one safe place that he'd been able to think of, somewhere where he knew she'd be able to sleep undisturbed while he tried figured out what the hell to do about her room… and more importantly: what exactly to tell Pop's and the other Commanders. His room.

It wasn't the first time she'd been asleep in there, although usually Marco wound up carrying Ann to her own room after she fell asleep in his and not the opposite. It had happened a dozen or so times in the past two months, the first time being only a handful of days after the initial embarrassing incident that his brothers still gave him shit over every now and then. Though thankfully the second time it had only been one of his brothers who'd stumbled across him as he'd been carrying the small blonde to her room bridal style instead of the whole pack of them waiting in the hallway outside his bedroom… yet considering that the brother in question had been a certain prank happy fourth division commander Marco had to wonder exactly how thankful he should have truly been.

He was loath to admit that he'd made a deal with the smug ginger in regards to chores after Ann had unconsciously made the situation worse by snuggling up closer to him while mumbling about fluffy blue chickens. It hadn't been until a few weeks later that Marco had realised he'd been played big time by Thatch when he watched as Namur picked up Ann and carried her away when she'd fallen asleep while playing poker with said fishman, Roman, Jozu, Izo, Carra, Haruta and himself. He'd asked the remainder of the group what had happened, concerned that something was wrong, only to find out that Ann often stayed awake for days on end due to her insomnia - something Marco had begun to suspect that she suffered from - and that a few of the commanders that the small blonde had made friends with had carried the her back to her room when they'd found her asleep in random places around the ship at one point or another; including Thatch.

To placate the sulking feather head, because the Phoenix's brooding was starting to affect his own mood, Marco bent down and snared one of the many long blonde locks that were scattered around the blackened circle, their presence almost blending in with the carnage that encompassed the small space.

Twisting the partially sooty strands through his fingers Marco almost breathed a sigh of relief when his animal counterpart settled down… yet no sooner had he began to relax on that front then he became aware of the impatient shuffling and huffing of the individual who'd run across him as he'd been carrying a finally passed out Ann down the Commanders hallway and was the reason he had been keeping his emotions under a tighter check than what he normally would have if he were alone.

Marco almost groaned in aggravation as he heard the beginning taps of a slippered foot as his fellow commander's patience dwindled by the second. He supposed that it didn't exactly help that besides cutting off said impatient individual by telling him to shut up and get the door as he'd begun to bombard Marco with a million and one questions outside his room in the commanders hallway Marco hadn't exactly said anything else. His sole focus had been on making sure Ann stayed asleep after trying to pry her grip loose from his jacket - a task that ultimately failed and ended in him without the item of clothing because she wouldn't let go - so Marco had only half heard the multitude of protests that came from his annoyed sibling after he'd settled the small blonde on his unused bed, only stopping to remove her boots before leaving his room to come back to this disaster zone and continuing to studiously ignore his brother as he tried to wrap his brain around what the hell had happened.

Figuring his brother could wait a few more moments for an answer – or hopefully just give up and leave him alone; very wishful thinking on his part with that one – Marco went about studying the room now that it was illuminated by the early-morning sun.

Practically everything was either paint splattered or charred. Even the ceiling hadn't escaped Marco noticed as he threaded the fingers of his empty hand through his hair, slightly pulling at the blonde tuft out of sheer frustration as his eyes landed on one of the now empty paint pots that were scattered around the room, dribbling the remainder of its colourful liquid onto the floor boards and covering the blackened surface. In some places the medium sized containers had landed close to one another, mixing to form a variety of different sized and multicoloured pools that if it wasn't for the upended bed with its broken frame or the solid wooden dresser that had been so obviously a victim of Ann's strange Haki, its contents scattered around with everything else, anyone who knew the rooms artistic occupant would think that this was some strange form of decoration.

"So Marco, feel like telling me what the hell happened in here or do I have to go get Pops?" The thinly veiled threat from behind him stopped him just as he was about to pick up one of paint pots and move it to the side of the room… Now however, he felt like kicking the thing out of shear frustration.

Looking over his shoulder Marco once again cursed his own misfortune; out of all of his brothers to have run into this morning he'd somehow ran into the only one who his authority as first mate or piercing glares didn't seem to have that much of an effect on...

"Don't scowl at me, that doesn't work on me like it does Thatch. Now explain what the hall happened in here, Ann's my sister to Marco and I have every right to know why her room looks like a bomb went off in it." Kohl rimmed eyes glared back at him, telling Marco that his brother wasn't going to let this go until he got an answer.

"She's not a member of the crew Izo, so she's not your sister." He absently said to the Okama as he went over to the mattress and moved it until it was propped up against the nearest wall.

Marco definitely wasn't going to tell the meddling cross-dresser that he'd probably never think of the small blonde as anything remotely sibling related... especially after he'd spent the past, was it ten hours? - he'd lost track of the time a while ago – cradling Ann in his lap, rocking her back and forth as he rubbed what he hopped had been comforting circles on her back as she'd switched between crying and incoherent babble... not that he'd been able to understand whatever it was she'd been saying even if she had actually been talking clearly, no he'd been too busy keeping his bloody Phoenix in check. In the end he'd settled for letting the blue fire run over his fingers as he'd ran his hands in circles over her back, sure in the fact that if Ann was in the right state of mind she'd have punched him… especially as his blue-flame encased fingers had ghosted over the puckered ridges of glossy pink skin that stretched from the top of her left shoulder, covering half of her back and disappearing down past the top of her tank top.

"That's just a bloody technicality for now. She will be soon so stop stalling and answer my question." Marco rolled his eyes at Izo's words, feeling his patients slip by the second.

"So this is what Ace's abrupt attitude change was about."

Marco's gaze snapped towards the room's doorway just as Izo yanked a suddenly wide eyed Roman into the room. He watched as the sixteenth division commander used the larger man's body to effectively slam the door close before Izo pined the former quarter master to its wooden surface by Romans shirts collar with one of his perfectly manicured hands while the other was buried in the open front of his kimono, proving that age old saying of 'don't judge a book by its cover'. Izo wasn't a division commander for nothing.

"Alright Roman," Izo drawled as his Kohl rimmed eyes narrowed in a way Marco knew all too well - Thatch had dubbed it Izo's 'I'm not taking no for an answer' look - as he watched the cross-dresser pull one of his pistols out from the folds of his kimono and cock it, the Okama tightening his grip on Roman shirt while he move in menacingly close "So far I haven't gotten a single ounce of information out of that idiot" for a split second Marco was staring at the business end of Izo's flintlock before it was pointing back towards the stunned pirate "So either you tell me what in the hell is happening around here or so help me I might just start playing eenie, meenie, miney, mo with your body parts."

While Izo theatrics were a tad over board in Marco's opinion they did get the pissy cross-dresser the desired result he was after Marco thought as he watched the dark skinned man react in a way that even seasoned members of the crew probably wouldn't have.

The fact that Roman raise both his hands while looking the gun toting lunatic directly in the eyes before calmly replying "I have no idea what happened in here specifically, I just went to check on Ace as I didn't see him yesterday and he asked me to give this back to Ann and then he went in the direction of the Mess Hall mumbling something about finishing things once and for all." Raised Marco's respect for the younger pirate tenfold… But then Marco guessed that the former Spade Pirate probably had a lot of experience dealing with irrational behaviour.

He groaned loudly and scrubbed his hand over his face as he tried to imagine exactly what the volatile Logia could have possibly meant by his words seconds before he heard a multitude of shouts coming from the other side of the rooms closed door. Wondering what in the hell could possibly be happening now he marched swiftly over to the door, shoving Izo and Roman aside just as the Okama was reaching out to wrap his fingers around the tiny blue book that Roman had gripped in his right hand.

Ignoring Izo's spluttered protests as he opened the door Marco instantly picked up the frantic yells of his crew mates shouting one very distinct word; Ann.

Patience finally stretched to the point of almost breaking entirely Marco growled out "Roman you go see what the hell is going on with Ann while I go see what stupid shit Ace is about to pull" before he departed from the room in flurry barley unrestrained fury. He wasn't that far gone so he did faintly hear Izo yell out to Roman to hurry up and go before the cross-dresser slippered feet were hitting the wooden floorboards hard behind him probably in an effort for his brother to keep up with the quick pace Marco was setting as he made a beeline to the ships large dining hall.

A few minutes later Marco entered the Mess Hall, noticing how its normal level of early morning chatter was absent. Though Marco thought that it probably had more to do with how all the crews attention was solely focused towards the head of the room where Pops sat in his oversized chair than how hung-over the majority of them must be after last night's party. From the corner of his eye Marco saw Izo sneaking his way around the edge of the room, not a single crew member paying any attention to the sixteenth commander as he slowly made his way to the front… undoubtedly to get a better seat for the drama that was unfolding.

Pressing himself to the back wall Marco watched the flame logia as he stood in front of Oyaji, fisted hands clenching and unclenching by the younger pirate's side as he glared up at the larger pirate who was just grinning at Ace's cockiness while silently drinking his morning coffee.

"I must say Ace, this is a pretty different approach than what you've tried before. It's definitely not your best murder attempt." Marco was already thoroughly angry but that feeling only intensified to just shy of blind rage as he watched Oyaji laugh before tipping his head back and drinking deeply of his morning brew, effectively giving the seething Logia before him the perfect opportunity to attack. Not the Marco ever thought Ace would be able to hurt the Old Man. No what really had Marco beyond pissed at the moment was how the Old Man seemed intent on dragging this stupidity out; the first few days had been amusing watching the young pirate get his arse handed to him again and again but the novelty had worn off pretty quickly for Marco, unlike his father who was still thoroughly enjoying messing with the tightly wound hot-headed rookie.

For the briefest of seconds the Old Mans gaze landed on Marcos and while the blonde was sure that none of his other siblings had seen the slight raise of their Captains brow as his gaze had locked with Marco's dark one seeing as no one turned around to look his way he was however one hundred percent sure that the his message had gotten through to the Old man in that brief moment. **_I am over this bullshit_**. It took great lengths to push him to slightly annoyed, Thatch holding first place in that particular department and Marco knew that the Old Man had easily figured out that he'd been pushed so well beyond that and that it was in everyone's best interest if nothing pushed him further off the deep end.

Marco relaxed a fraction and moved ever so slightly to lean against the back wall as he saw the Old Man's slight nod as he fully acknowledged the current situation and settled in with to watch along with the rest of his crew mates as the flame Logia crossed his arms over his chest while mumbling something that even his Zoan abilities couldn't hear. He and the rest of the crew didn't have to long to ponder on what it possibly was that the ebony haired pyro had mumble because in the next instant the Old Man leant forward in his large chair, gaze shape and intently trained on the young pirate in front of him, all traces of his earlier teasing gone.

"Speak up brat." Oyaji's voice boomed throughout the mess hall and Marco saw a few too many of his fellow crewmates flinch and grab their heads.

"I said I accept your offer to join your crew you crazy old basterd." Ace yelled back at the Old Man, his body and neck muscles going ridged as he stood up to the Yonko.

There was a tense moment of silence that spread throughout the mess hall as everyone waited on baited breathe for their captains reaction the young pirates rude words.

"Gurararararara! Cheeky brat. Go get yourself some food and try not to set any of your fellow crew mates or our home alight." Most of the crew sweat drooped at their Captains reaction while Marco, the other division commanders and the more senior members of the crew knew better and just laughed off the Old Man's reaction… well all except Marco that was. No his cerulean gaze was trained firmly on the young pirate as Ace walked over to sit at one of the more emptier tables before beginning to dig into the food that was laid out down the centre of the long rectangle buffet style.

Pushing off from the wall Marco heard the beginning mumbles and murmurs of his fellow crew mates as he wound his way amongst the tables, his gaze never leaving the flame loggias form.

Just as he approached the table that Ace had settled himself down at, young pirates back conveniently to Marco, Marco watched as the flame loggias shoulders visibly tensed as he no doubt sensed the sudden dark presence.

Marcos gaze briefly flickered down to the end of the same table as he heard the clattering of cutlery and a few incoherent splutters, noticing the slack jawed expression of Thatch. On any other day Marco would have enjoyed garnering that reaction from his brother… but today wasn't that day.

He grabbed a hold of Ace's arm just as the pyro had begun to spin around, practically dragging the wide eyed but pissed off looking pirate out of his seat that he'd just claimed. The pancake that had been on the way to Ace's mouth falling to the floor as Marco's hold forced him to let go of it; it hit with a faint splat, the noise echoing through the suddenly silent hall.

"You're coming with me right now." Marco growled in Ace face.

"Like hell!" The Logia yelled back as fire sprang over the limb that Marco had a hold of.

An altogether evil smirk appeared across Marco's lips as his Phoenix fire flared up to protect him, making the young pirate pause in his struggle and giving Marco the opportunity to say in a tone that practically dripped malice, promising without actual words a special kind of hell for Ace if he didn't comply with Marcos orders "You will go and fix whatever the hell you said to your sister last night that sent her off the fucking deep end."

If there ever was any doubt in Marcos mind that Ace truly cared for his twin it fully disappeared when he watched all the fight practically bleed out of the Logia in that split second it took for Marcos words to register, replaced quickly by a wide eyed panic seconds before Ace's arm slipped from Marcos now loose hold and the young pirate took a stumbled a step away from the table.

Yet the fact that Ace didn't immediately go in search of his sister but instead clutched at his chest and head, his eyes further widening in panic set all of Marco's alarm bells ringing.

"Where is she?.." Ace's quite but panicked words caught his attention, causing the blonds brows to furrow in confusion. "Why can't I sense her?!" Ace's voice grew in volume along with his panic. "What have you basterds done to Ann?!" The flame Logia yelled out seconds before a torrent of flames engulfed the immediate vicinity…

* * *

 _...I knew this nightmare all too well. It always started the same and it **ALWAYS** ended the same... And yet no amount of screaming at my younger self as I watched the painful memory play out in sick graphic detail would change its inevitable outcome..._

 _Being an unwilling spectator trapped in my own mind, already knowing the ending to this blurred horror show but unable do anything while also being astutely aware that this was but a horrendous memory of the worst day of my life was tantamount to torture... and I was beginning to wonder how many more of these nightmares I could relive before my sanity started to slip._

 _How many more times could I remember how the chemical filled smoke had burnt the back of my throat and stung my eyes? Or the sickly scent of burning flesh that the black plums had carried that day?_

 _I could still remember the scared screams and panicked cries that carried on what was meant to be a calm and sunny morning's air. My cries had mixed in with theirs every time I stumbled and fell in the refuse... sharp stones cut into my palms and knees while jagged bits of bent metal snagged at my clothing, tearing the pretty purple sundress that Makino had made for me as I struggled forward through their grip... struggled to get to Ace and Luffy._

 _Watching...trapped and watching… I counted the scratches, the stumbles, the amount of times I wiped my eyes or coughed like some twistedly morbid countdown clock... all the while screaming to deaf ears and blind eyes, moaning in misery to turn back and pick a different path... Pleading desperately with this nightmare to take a different course._

 _The ramshackle homes of the Grey Terminals residents came into view and I so desperately wanted to slam my eyes closed... I could see what my younger self had failed to see that day... hear what she'd failed to hear as small hands hand cupped around her mouth to yell loudly..._

 _Even over the roar of the inferno... distant screams... as my younger self was getting ready to yell those two words in pitiful desperation again I could hear the creak of the dilapidated hovel that for some reason I'd stupidly stopped near that day; probably due to how the leaning hut was blocking some of the suffocating smoke..._

 _The groaning of metal... the popping of heated wood... I screamed to wake up... yet still watched as the building clasped under the fires abuse, a large heavy beam that was slowly smouldering knocking my younger self to the ground and pinning her their..._

 _And finally I was able to slam my eyelids closed... but not before I remembered the pain that had accompanied my skin frying. The smell of my own cooking flesh mingling with every other putrid stench around me as I screamed in agony... choking on my own vomit under the crushing weight of the burning rubble... that one lone howl of misery that didn't come from my own blood stained lips before darkness finally took me into its comforting embrace._

I flung myself up straight, coughing like the action could somehow rid the memory of what it was like to have smoke, blood and vomit filling my lungs as I clutched my chest with one hand while my other ran over my left shoulder shaking, feeling the raised and uneven skin and clutching it tightly as I was finally able to separate reality from nightmare.

My heart still hammered away in my chest, its sporadic tempo filling my ears and blocking out every other sound save my ragged breathing.

Why… why in the hell had I had that nightmare? It hadn't surfaced its ugly head since all those months ago. Well that wasn't exactly true, I'd almost dreamt of it that time all those nights ago when I'd had my first real conversation with Ace after we'd come onboard Whitebeards ship.

Running my hands over my sweat drenched brow I pushed the loose strands of hair that had stuck to forehead away, my chaotic thoughts pausing as my fingers slipped free a lot sooner than I was used too... WHAT THE FUCK?! Bringing both my hands up I pulled at the now much shorter strands in confusion, a whirlwind of questions forming in my head as bits and pieces of shattered memories flickered through my mind like a broken film.

...Looking into my bedrooms mirror as tears trekked down my cheeks... why had I been crying? Feeling anger bubble up as I looked at the strawberry blonde locks, hair the same shade as my mothers... Hacking it all off in a fit of rage because... because... I struggled to remember the reason why I'd done such a thing. Oh I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I'd done this because of Ace, he was the only person who could ever push me to the limits of my sanity.

But the real question was why?

And just like that it was like the fog surrounding the illusive memory faded suddenly and I recalled the events that had led to me standing before that mirror and looking at my own reflection with disgusted disdain. I'd done it in a fit of childish relation because I wanted Ace to hurt as I had been... because I knew how comforting he found the blonde tresses and I wanted to take that happiness away from me like he'd taken mine.

He knew how much I hated fire... he'd helped Dogra change my bandages all those years ago. And he certainly remembered the weeks that I'd refused to speak to him after he'd fed me that accursed fruit... I rubbed at the centre of my chest as I felt the familiar fire like ember burning in the centre of my soul... and it's presence made my stomach roll violently as the invisible fire brought snippets of that nightmare with it, threatening to drown me in its misery like a tidal wave.

I felt panic stir in my chest... I couldn't relive that again. Like a vicious cycle, the more panicked I became the more the fire in my soul tried to comfort me with its caressing warmth... except unlike my twin I held no affection towards my elemental power, just apprehensive trepidation and a deep sense of fear.

There was only one way I knew to snuff out this feeling, so before my panic got the better of me I threw the covers off myself, briefly noticing that I was in Marco's room for some unknown reason, but I didn't let it distract me from my goal as I took off on bare feet, almost reefing the door off its hinges in my haste to get to the small cabin that Roman and Cruz shared with six other members of the crew and the small unsuspecting box that the former quarter master had shown me the location of.

Ignoring the shouts of the people that I sprinted past I made my way down stairways and though corridors until I found the room I was after, a sense of relief rushing over me as I saw Cruz's sleeping form on the lowest of the four bunks on the left side of the room when I opened the door, washing away any doubt that I may have went to the wrong room.

I scaled the bunks on the right side of the room as Roman had the third from the floor and made my way across the neatly made bed until I got to the shelved headboard, crying out in elation when my eyes landed on the little box that held my salvation. I flipped open its lid and raked my eyes across the small piece of jewellery that Roman had somehow convinced me a few months ago that I didn't need; in the end the only reason I'd given it to him was because he'd promised that he wouldn't get rid of it and that if I felt like I truly needed it he'd give it back no questions asked.

Pulling the plane greeny-blue ring from its cushion I instantly felt its effects, yet it wasn't until it was once again securely back on my left thumb did I release a sigh of utter relief before flopping onto my back.

Silence, pure blissful silence... until I became aware that I was being starred at that was.

Rolling onto my right side I looked firstly at Cruz's concerned face, his shaggy blue bangs hanging around his sleepy eyes before I shifted my gaze to Roman, my brows furrowing in confusion when I noticed the barely retrained amusement on the dark skinned man's face.

"Yes?" I bit off in annoyance as Roman didn't even try to smother the chuckle he let out as he scrupulously eyed me. To add insult to injury Roman's apparent lack of concern was enough for our youngest brother to drop his own concern and roll around on his bed, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes while he pointed at me and silently laughed.

I flipped Cruz the bird just as Roman chimed in with "You look like that time we got caught in that storm and you forgot to put your painting supplies away." His snickering made me look down at myself and I finally noticed just how paint smeared I was… also that I wasn't only running around barefoot but that I was also only in my blue tank top from the day before and my short shorts.

Deciding to be an absolute bitch because Roman was still standing there laughing at me I retaliated to his teasing by rolling around on his previously neat and tidy bed, hoping that half of what was on my clothes and skin would rub off on the smug basterds bedding.

I began to laugh as I heard Roman splutter and curse seconds before I felt his large hand wrap around my ankle and pull me swiftly off his now colourfully messy bunk. My laughter only increased as I landed in a tangled pile of limbs and heard Romans grunted groan seconds before I pulled Cruz off his bunk to join Roman and me on the floor.

After what felt like hours my laughter subsided – no thanks to how Roman and Cruz had ganged up and tickled the shit out of me – and I breathed a contented sigh as I laid there on the floor squashed between my brothers, all my troubles seeming to melt with their reassuring presence… until Cruz hesitantly grabbed my left hand and raised it into our view that was.

I watched as his twisted my hand left and right a few times, his gloved fingers touching the bluish-green ring; I didn't even have to look over at him to know he was looking at me questioningly.

However, before I could explain to Cruz why I was wearing the seastone once again the rooms door was yanked open and I craned me head backwards, getting a good view of Kirens flushed face as he bent over gripping his knees while taking in big drags of air.

"Thank fuck I found you Ann." He got out between heaves. I quickly got to my feet as my brows furrowed while I looked at the flushed cook. I was just about to ask what was wrong when he opened his mouth once more and the second I registered his strained words I took off once again.

"Ace is up to something in the mess hall." Kirens words played in my head as I ran… what in the hell could that brother of mine be up to now? Hadn't the past two months of arse kickings taught the idiot anything?

I shoved through the Mess Halls doors just in time to hear Ace scream "What have you basterds done to Ann?!" as he clutched his head and heart, wide eyes bouncing around the room.

Shit! I realised a second too late exactly what had set Ace off and my heart clenched painfully as I realised that this current situation was in actual fact entirely all my fault. Time seemed to slow as I watched the first flicker of fire climb his hands, spreading out like spilled redish-orange ink before it engulfed his immediate vicinity in flames.

Those that were close to him leapt back with startled shouts and for the first time I actually noticed who was standing right next to Ace, brows furrowed and a confused look in his cerulean eyes. It felt like the bottom of my stomach dropped out as I watched in seeming slow motion as Ace's fire wrapped around Marco who stayed standing next to Ace as if the blonde had no sense of self preservation.

"Ace!" I screamed out as I dashed forward while pulling the ring off my thumb and shoved it into my back pocket, its effects immediately reversing now that it wasn't touching my skin.

I reached out a hand as I lunged for him, his fire leaping towards my outstretched limb like a vine towards the sun and I grabbed onto it like it was a lifeline, feeling its warmth absorb into my being.

As I crashed into my brother, knocking him to the floor and away from Marco I used every last bit of my training to forcibly suppress his fire, essentially absorbing it into myself as I wrapped my arms around him... I just hopped that I was in time to stop Ace from accidentally hurting someone because I hadn't thought it fully through before I'd put on the seastone again, effectively cutting off the connection we shared.

* * *

 **GreenDrkness: Personally I love Thatch, he's always struck me as the 'big brother'type.**

 **Nailyu: I hope this chapter answered your question.**

 **Guest: I love the Rolling Stones :)**

 **FIREmizuchi: Sometimes life happens**

 **Guest: Thankx**

* * *

 **As Always Enjoy**

 **Xhex**

 **xoxox**

* * *

 **Wooo! I'm alive... barely, but alive non-the-less. Rough couple of months but things are looking up. I'd never do a disservice to the people who actually read this by posting what even I'd consider complete shit so that's why it took me so long to get this chapter out. Bare with me as I pick myself back up and get back in the groove :)**


	10. The New Beginning

"Don't Try To Find A Reason For Somebody's Love."

\- Sengoku –

* * *

"Damn it Ace!" I groaned out as I moved away from the bench seats that we'd collided with in my attempt to once again save Ace from his own stupid self.

While I brought one of my hands up to gingerly touch the part of my shoulder that had taken the brunt of the impact I used my other to shove Ace's legs off of me so I could sit up… not that I actually managed to get particularly far before I was once again horizontal on the Mess Halls hard wooden flood, blankly staring up at the high ceiling as my shoulder and now my back throbbed in renewed pain.

I'd only had a split second to brace myself after I'd heard Ace cry my name out in what sounded like utter relief before I felt his slightly larger frame collide with mine, wrapping me in a bone crushing hug as he took me back to the floor. Briefly I forgot how horrified I was by Ace's action only moments ago and returned his embrace; especially as I felt him let out a shuddering breath before his arms tightened further around me… yet as pain shot through my shoulder, reminding me exactly of how I injured it in the first place I found my anger towards Ace once again bubbling to the surface.

"Owwww! Get off me you Idiot." I wheezed out as I pushed against his torso.

Taking no mind of the tone of my voice, or more than likely just being completely oblivious of it altogether Ace scrambled back just far enough for me to breathe in relief before he yanked me up into another - yet thankfully less bone crushing this time - hug.

"I was wearing my ring you twit." I sighed out as I moved one of my hands to ruffle Ace's shaggy black hair while my other went in search of said ring in my back pocket.

"Oh…" was his all Ace mumbled in response as he released me from his death grip, moving to sit on his backside next to me with his hip and thigh pressed up against mine and his hand resting on my bent knees.

As I slipped the bluish-green ring back onto my thumb I breathed a sigh of relief when the sea-stones effects washed over me like a calming balm, silencing my racing heart and growing panic. I absently wondered how long I'd need it for this time as I twisted it around my thumb.

"Oi! What the hell?!" Ace's indignant shout filled the silence surrounding us seconds before he leant towards me and I felt his fingers run through my now much shorter hair. I shifted my eyes up to his, watching as his brows furrowed as a look of utter disbelief stole across his freckled features while his mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as he tugged at the haphazardous mess.

As Ace's gaze shifted to mine and the first dejected sound spluttered from his lips and his fingers slipped free of the blonde strands as he sat back with a questionable huff I narrowed my own chocolate brown gaze at him. I could see the million and one questions running through Ace's mind as his gaze bounced around my face before his alarmed brown eyes shifted to take in the rest of me.

Just as he opened his mouth to no doubt put voice to one of those many question my brows pulled together and I cut him off with a shape glare before he could even begin to comment on my appearance, remembering how utterly pissed I was with him.

"Portgas D. Ace!" I said lowly, watching him wince and move slightly away from me as I used his full name; something I had only ever done when I was truly pissed off at him. "I have had enough of this. It was one thing when you were just being a dick to Pop's; for some reason he seems to get a kick out of your idiocy. But now you're attacking other members of his crew." His mouth opened once again, probably in an effort to defend himself but I really wasn't in the mood to listen to anything he had to say.

Getting to my feet I finally became aware of how much of an audience we had yet I didn't let their intense stares deter me from raking Ace over the proverbial coals. "For the love of all that is gold in this world make a fucking decision already." I finished before I placed my hands on my hips and just stood there glaring down at my twin.

"Actually Ann, your brother had just agreed to join the crew before you came in here to witness his… errr… meltdown." I looked to my left, raising my brow in silent question at Vistas words.

When the swordsmen continued to drink from his coffee as he stroked his obscene moustache, only stopping to nod at me as an amused expression graced his angular features after I continued to stare at him like maybe I'd misheard him.

Realising that Vistas wasn't joking in the slightest I turned my astonished gaze back towards my twin who'd still not picked himself up from the floor.

A wide grin stole across Ace's freckled face as he looked up at me before he got to his feet, making me have to look up at his smug features because he was well over a head taller than me.

"I took Whitebeard up on his offer." Ace proudly pronounced, cocky grin stretching incredibly wide across his face.

"Then what the fuck was with the pyrotechnic show?!" I yelled out in exasperation, flinging my hands in the air as I completely gave up on trying to figure out what in the hell was going on inside Ace's fickle little mind.

"He started it!" Ace yelled whilst pointing off to the side, his cocky grin from moments ago quickly replaced by a childish pout as his eyes narrowed, their brown depths positively radiating malice towards the person he was currently laying all of the blame on; his cheeks puffing out and the red tinge that now adorned them only settled to further enhanced the immaturity of his words.

Following his outstretched arm my gaze widened considerably when it landed on the two individuals his pointed finger was directed at, one sitting with his mouth hanging wide open and staring at the other who was standing, arms crossed and permanently board expression on his face as he looked our way.

I instantly knew that Ace didn't at all mean to include Thatch in all his glorious flabbergasted stupor but was in fact referring to the shirtless and interestingly decorated first division commander... yet before I had a chance to ask Marco why in the seven seas he looked the way he did or even get to question Ace on what exactly Marco had done to warrant him trying to barbecue the Phoenix Whitebeards heavy laughter filled the air and everybody's gaze turned towards the delighted sounding Captain.

"Ann, Roman, Cruz. It seems Ace has agreed to stay aboard and become part of the crew, so what says you three?" I could only stare stupidly up at Whitebeard as he leant forward in his seat, kind eyes alight with amusement as he looked my way.

"I'd be a shame to break up the family, don't you think Ann?"

"Holy shit!" I nearly jumped out of my fucking skin as I felt a large arm drop across my shoulders and pull me into the side of the person who'd just spoken his rhetorical question with such amusement.

Whipping my gaze up I took in Roman's lively eyes as he grinned down at me in delight, half of it probably stemming from how he'd managed to catch me off guard. Cruz was standing on his other side, blue bangs hanging over his face, his crocked smile firmly in place as he nodded vigorously at Whitebeard.

"Are you sure about this?" I swung my gaze back to Ace, double checking that this was all real... because it currently felt like some jacked up dream that I could suddenly wake up from… and I really didn't want this to be a dream.

As Ace's grin appeared on his face once more, the action creasing his eyes and stretching his freckled cheeks incredibly wide in genuine happiness I knew that I was awake and this was all real so I did something that probably would have damaged my reputation as a badass pirate if I actually gave a shit about stuff like that; I screamed... Loudly. And then I flung myself at Ace, wrapping my arms around his neck in a bone crushing hug, figuring that I could easily forgive him for his stupidity over the past two months because we were staying.

Hell, Ace could have bought up HIM or told those around us about the time I got hustled in a game of poker and had to wander back to the ship in my birthday suit and I would have just kept smiling; that's how happy I currently was.

"I take that as a yes then?"

As Ace chuckled and returned my hug I heard Whitebeards words and looked up at the larger than life man who'd decided to take a chance on a certain stubborn young pirate, extending the same unconditional caring towards the entirety of our former crew even when our captain had gone so doggedly after his head and felt my throat close up and my eyes begin to water as a million and one emotion coursed through my system, the most prominent one being utter relief.

Not trusting my voice I settle for just nodding up at Pops, yelping in surprise and clutching onto Ace as he began to laugh and spin me around in a series of dizzying circles. His happiness was infectious and I soon found myself squealing in glee along with my twin; laughter that was quickly drowned out by the defining cheers of those around us.

For the first time in years I felt like I had somewhere to belong.

* * *

"You know, I could just shave the whole lot off. It's only hair, it'll grow back." My offhanded statement was met with a swift smack to the back of my head that made me grunt in pain.

The person who was cutting the blobs of dried paint from my hair began muttering what I could only assume were insults by his tone, in a language that I couldn't understand as he went back to cutting the mess that was my hair, pulling a little more harshly at the shorter blonde strands than before which made me wince and wish that I'd just kept my fucking mouth shut.

Across the slightly steam filled room I heard Carra chuckle and shifted my eyes to glare at the reflection of the women who'd dragged me in here close to an hour ago.

The pretence had been for us to get the bathroom to ourselves before the rest of the women decided to flood in to get ready for the party that was happening tonight… if I'd known she was in cahoots with a certain kimono wearing commander who'd set about scolding me for the better part of that hour while simultaneously manhandling my fucking head I would have went with Ace when Maybelle had miraculously persuaded my still cautious sibling that he needed a physical and cleaned up in the shower in the med bay.

"You're better off just letting him have his way Ann. Izo's not one to take no for an answer." Izo's grumbling was doing nothing to drown out the barely restrained laughter I could practically hear coming from my ebony haired friend as she lounged in the chest deep water of the large bath that took up most of the floor space in the room.

Briefly I flicked my gaze up to Izo's reflection in the wall length mirror that was situated above the equally long vanity that I was currently seated on a stool in front of but I just as quickly returned to scowling at Carra as she lay soaking in the warm water, both arms folded on the baths edge so she could rest her head on them; because anything was better than locking gazes with the irate commander who looked like he was just one wrong word away from breaking into another tirade about how immature he thought I was.

When Izo's evil accomplice opened her eyes and a smug smile stretched across her face as her relaxed green gaze met my narrowed ones I mouth 'bitch' at her… because that's the only word I could think of to describe the traitorous women at the moment.

Carra didn't take offence to my word though. No, true to how close we'd gotten over the past month her smile widened further before she stuck her tongue out at me while simultaneously flipping me the bird.

Rebuttal returned, the bitch closed her eyes and went back to her relaxing while snickering at my current misfortune.

Yet as I heard her soft chuckle the corner of my own mouth tugged up in a stupid grin; the forth division member had become the closest thing I had to a best friend and was most defiantly my first female friend. I was quite relived that I wouldn't have to give up that friendship now that I was staying.

Truthfully though, and despite the fact that I'd was still slightly ticked about how Carra had tricked me, I was secretly glad for her intervention not too long after Pop's had announced that we'd have to have a party to celebrate 'the end of his entertainment'.

That statement had caused many of the crew that had been cheering at the fact that Ace, Roman, Cruz and I were now officially a part of the crew to groan loudly. Many of them were currently hung-over from yesterdays impromptu party and I silently snickered again as I remembered how I'd watched everyone go back to eating breakfast or whatever else it was that they'd been up to before I'd come crashing into the mess hall, half of them merrily chattering about the party to come at sundown while the other half bemoaned and held onto their heads as I'd directed my grumbling sibling to a mostly deserted table off to the side of the room so we could have a much needed chat.

Even though Ace had been the biggest douche over the past two months I missed him dearly… the dull ache that had set in my chest over the past few weeks had begun to dissipate as I'd sat talking and laughing with him like old times.

In the end I'd only gotten to talk to Ace for about half an hour though before Maybelle had come and grabbed him, telling my still extremely cautious and prickly sibling that it was mandatory that every member of the crew had a full physical evaluation when they joined the crew. Carra had appeared only a few seconds after the stony faced nurse and had smiled sweetly at Ace and somehow gotten my suddenly tongue tied and red tinged twin to agree with her that I should go with Carra to get cleaned up for the party even though moments before that his eyes had been practically screaming at me to not leave him alone the sadistic she-beast.

I don't know if it had had more to do with how Ace had quickly come to realise that any protest on his behalf was utterly pointless against the head nurse or if he just wanted to get away because he was still uncomfortable being around so many people, but ten minutes after the pair had arrived Ace was walking away with Maybelle, feet dragging and head hang low as he mopped… yet also somehow still managing to look like the semi-feral animal he'd resemble up until this date which discourage anyone from coming close to him.

The mischievous grin and wink Maybelle had sent our way behind Ace's back had made me snort out a laugh as I remember what she'd promised she'd do all those weeks ago and I'd almost ran after the pair… except as the door closed behind them I'd let out a heavy sigh that I hadn't even realised I'd been holding onto and practically sagged in relief.

So yes, I was grateful to Carra, even if she'd essentially set me up to be scolded like a child. My mouthed word had held no real heat and she knew it to.

Just like she'd known that I needed a break from Ace before. Because as much as I loved my twin his incessant apologising had begun to grate on my nerves… especially considering that there was only so many ways I could spin the phrase 'it's ok'.

I also suspected that she'd done it just because she knew how twitchy I was about the burns that covered most of my left side, being that it'd only been a few weeks ago that I'd told her the shortened and vague version of how I'd gotten them and that I'd prefer it if she didn't tell anyone about them considering how stupid and presumptuous people could be.

"I cannot believe that you did something this stupid. Honestly, what in the hell were you thinking?" Izo quipped words pulled me from my thoughts and I realised that he had finally finished cutting the remaining blobs of dried paint from my hair.

"I wasn't." I groaned loudly in relief as I was finally able to roll my head and elevate the ache that had been forming in my neck and between my shoulders. "I just wanted to piss Ace off."

"Right…" Izo said slowly and hesitantly as he looked at me like I had a few screws loose.

I honestly could fault him his current thought process. I'd have thought the same thing.

However before I could tell the commander that yes, I did know how utterly stupid and immature it sounded he slapped his hands together, frown disappearing off his face and painted lips stretching wide in a smile as his mood instantly changed. "Well get your colourful butt in the shower. Then when you're all clean I can finish cutting… that mess." The last of his words were said as he indicated to my still uneven hair before he began cleaning his equipment in the sink closest to him, completely ignoring me now as he happily hummed.

Izo was certainly an interesting character. Trying to figure out how he was going to react over something could give you a fucking aneurism though. How he could seem to care about everything and nothing all at the same time while simultaneously flitting from one subject to the next with a speed that would give a normal person whipelash completely baffled me… but like hell was it amusing when you weren't the focus of the geisha's nosey fixation.

I laughed at his flippant attitude as I walked over to one of the five empty shower stalls, pulling the door closed after snagging myself one of the clean towels from the pile of them that were stuffed onto the shelves at the end of the bathrooms large vanity.

As I hung the large red piece of fluffy terry cloth on the hook on the back of the door I took another look at my clothes; they were utterly ruined. There was no way to get the dried oil paint out of them without destroying the fabric also.

I sighed heavily as I began to strip off my shorts, these had been my comfiest pair, now they sat in a discarded pile on the floor along with my tank top. Thankfully my bra and panties were a different story; considering the amount of belli that this particular set had set me back I was very, very thankful.

I made quick work of washing myself, spending the most of the time scrubbing my legs and arms until I was absolutely sure that all the greasy paint was washed away, only stopping when they held a light red tinge and my skin became sensitive to touch.

I stepped out of the stall after drying myself, wrapping the damp towel around my body because there was no way in hell that I was putting back on my dirty clothes; I was pretty sure that the only clothing I still had left were currently collecting a musty smell from being locked away in a trunk down in the Mobys storage. And as I wasn't about to trapeze through the ship in only a towel in order to retrieve them I could only hoped I could borrow some clothes off Carra.

I'd caught a brief glimpse of the inside of my room as Carra had dragged me past it before; to say it was destroyed was an understatement. I highly doubted that any of my clothes that I'd had in the dresser had survived, even if I did hold some sliver of hope considering how much money they cost me verses how much money I didn't have to replace them.

Yet even though I knew I'd more than likely destroyed three quarters of my current wardrobe, about half of my art supplies and all of the pictures that I'd had hung up on the walls I couldn't muster up any sort of panic over their loss. They were currently way down at the bottom of my 'to be worried about' list, along with the chest the held my most valuable items that I knew was tucked into the far left corner of that disaster zone; I knew from experience that the thing could survive a hell of a lot, being made from Adam wood and all.

No, the top spot of my worry list belonged to that of the Twelfth Division Commander. I honestly just hopped that Haruta wouldn't be too pissed with me when he saw what I'd done above everything else. Just the thought of losing the swashbucklers friendship over such a stupid meltdown had my stomach in knots.

As I sat back down at the stool that I was pretty sure now held a permanent indentation of my arse, or maybe it was my arse beginning to mould to its hard wooden surface - I wasn't exactly sure at this point, all I knew for certain was that I hated it - I saw that Carra had finished with her bath and was now dressed in her chefs uniform as she went about drying her long ebony locks with her towel.

"So are you sure you can work your magic on our dear sister here Izo?" Carra asked the cross dresser who was currently running a comb through my hair.

"Tch." Izo clicked his tongue in annoyance and shot a glare at Carra before he began cutting my hair. I just sat there, fiddling with the end of the towel that stopped just shy of mid thigh as I watched the blonde strands begin to fall, keeping myself as still as possible to avoid another one of Izo's tirades.

For a while I just sat there listening to the snipping of Izo's scissors and watching Carra in the reflection of the mirror as she began to braid her hair and do her make-up.

The peacefulness didn't last for long though…

"Sooo…" Izo's questioning tone had me tensing up and my gaze shooting to his, but as his kohl rimmed eyes remained fixed on his current task, repeating the motions of combing and snipping my now much shorter hair I felt myself relax a fraction… but not all the way seeing as a million and one thoughts were currently running through my head on what exactly the cross-dressers 'sooo' could be leading to.

I didn't have long to wait though.

"Feel like telling me what this sexy little hidden piece of artwork is?" I yelped as Izo briefly stopped what he was doing to quickly pull my towel up my leg, exposing the palm sized tattoo the sat high on my hip before going back to my hair like he hadn't just exposed half my arse.

"You know when I first saw this on your brother I just felt sorry for him. Especially considering where the tattoo is. Thought he'd run a fowl of an illiterate tattooist. But seeing this just now made me realise that it there is probably a very interesting story behind it."

I laughed at Izo's words "I think Roman would take offence to you insinuating that he was illiterate, especially because the S was most definitely on purpose."

When I didn't elaborate any further on the tattoo's meaning Izo completely stopped cutting my hair and moved around until he was standing in front of me, leaning his hip against the vanity as he crossed his arms and raised a questioning brow.

I was just about to reply when I heard a knock on the bathrooms door and my twin's unmistakable voice come through the wooden panel.

"Ann, you in there?"

His voice sounded strained and immediately after his question I could hear a commotion out in the hall which sounded strangely like my twin was arguing with someone but ignored it to give Carra a questioning look; silently asking if she was ok with Ace coming in here seeing as it was the women's bathroom.

"I should probably hurry up anyway, there's a shit load of food to be prepared for tonight's party. Honestly I can't wait until we hit the next island and I can get a break from cooking." I watched Carra as she sighed dramatically before walking over to the door and pulling it open and revealing a red faced and completely grumpy looking Ace.

"Hello cutey." I felt myself laugh as I saw Ace's cheeks go even redder at Carra's bold statement.

That was another thing we'd bonded over the past month; our great love of teasing people, Thatch being our main target.

"Now if you wipe that grumpy look off your face I might upgrade you to handsome next time." Her words had the opposite effect on my twin and I had to muffle my laughter with my hands, a move that Ace completely saw and scowl at me over because Carra had twisted her head to wink at me before returning her attention to him.

"Well, you can keep Commander Izo here from terrorizing your sister any further." Carra said to Ace as she brushed past him only to stop a few feet outside the doorway, bringing her hands up to her hips and baring the way to whoever was behind Ace.

"Hey Carra, feather head gave me these to give to Ann." I heard Thatch's unmistakable voice and had no doubt in my mind that it was him who my twin had been arguing with. And considering that Thatch had been trying his hardest to get Ace to come around these past two month I wasn't surprised that the commander was shadowing Ace now that we'd officially joined.

I didn't pay Ace's scowling form much attention though as he stood in the bathrooms doorway, head playing pingpong between those inside and outside of the room, because I was more curious about what Marco could have possibly given the forth commander to give to me.

"Give it here." Carra's tone held a bite to it and I had no doubt that she was currently staring Thatch down.

"But the flaming turkey told ME to give it to her." The whine in Thatch's voice was unmistakable and I rolled my eyes while beside me Izo started mumbling again as he went back to cutting my hair.

"You are not going in there. That's the women bathroom." Carra held her ground against her commander.

"But Ace and Izo are in there." Thatch continued to whine like a child asking his mother why he couldn't have what the other kids were having… even if said child knew that his request was completely unreasonable.

"He's Ann's twin and Izo's a gentlemen unlike you, you huge pervert. Don't think I forgot who put the hole in the floor between the commander's bathroom and our one all those years ago." Carra growled out. "Beside we have shit to do in the kitchen, so come along before I tell Commander Marco about how you're shirking your duties… or your peeping tom tendencies."

"You wouldn't?"

The genuine fear in the commanders voice had my snickers turning into chuckles and I felt slightly sorry for Thatch… until I remembered how a few days ago Thatch had dropped a toy rat on me when I'd been helping Haruta fix a railing, causing me to fall into the fucking ocean and resulted in me having to be rescued by Namur… and then having all those on deck stare at me as I'd stalked off to go change because my white tank top and blouse had gone fucking see through.

I had no sympathy for the devil.

"Try me." Carra dared the head chef.

From the corner of my eye I saw her shove what looked like a bundle of cloth into Ace's hands before she pushed my stunned twin into the room and slammed the door behind her. I snickered at both Ace's expression and Carra's easy manipulation of Thatch.

My chuckles turned to outright laughter, which Izo complained half-heartedly about as I heard Thatch's protests because Carra was no doubt dragging her commanding officer away by his ear; I'd seen her do it before and it was always hilarious.

"I swear Pop's put that woman in Thatch's division simply because she calls him on his shit and keeps him in line." Izo snickered as he put his scissors down having finally finished with cutting my hair in to some semblance of an actual style that was a welcome change from my once long and thick locks.

"So they're like a couple or something?" Ace asked as he moved hesitantly over to my side, eyeing Izo curiously as he handed me what I recognised to be some of the clothes that I'd had stored in one of my trunks down in Mobys storage.

I'd have to thank the Phoenix later for the thoughtful gesture. It certainly saved me a lot of hassle.

"They're more like bickering siblings and best friends. Thatch is a habitual bachelor and hits on anything with boobs and Carra is always there to bail him out when he gets in over his head."

As Izo informed my brother about the relationship between the pair I half listened to him as I found a folded piece of paper tucked under the edge of my blue tank top.

Curious to see what it was I pulled it out and unfolded it:

 _Your boots and bandana are being cleaned - M_

A smile stretched across my lips as I read those words and a warm feeling settled in my chest. I didn't know exactly what to make of it but I liked it none the less.

"He didn't hit on me." I stated as I tucked the note back in the folds of my clothing while Ace made a sort of growling noise beside me at the words; something that I studiously ignored.

"That probably has more to do with Marco and Thatch's latent survival instinct than anything else." Izo stated as he packed his stuff up. "Anyway, before I leave maybe you can explain something for me Ace dear because your sister has a habit of dodging the question."

Ace looked at me questionably and I shrugged my shoulders at him in reply before getting up and heading over to the bench that ran in front of the shower stalls so I could dress.

To anyone else it'd probably look like I'd brushed Ace off but in truth the action had meant 'tell him if you want, doesn't bother me.' Ace knew that the only time I didn't say anything was if it also concerned him so most of the time I left the decision whether or not to say anything up to him.

"Sure…" Ace hesitantly told the Okama.

I hide my happiness over the fact that he seemed to be doing his best in getting along with everyone by turning around and tugging on my underwear under the towel; it was difficult to say the least.

"What's the deal with the matching tattoos."

"Oh, is that all?" I could hear the relief in Ace's voice as I dropped the towel so I could put the rest of my clothes on more easily. Knowing Ace he'd probably thought it was something along the lines of why he'd gone so hard after Pop's head considering that I'd refused to answer Izo without his input.

"It's one of our younger brother's jolly roger." Ace said happily.

"There are more of you?" I rolled my eyes at Izo's shrieked question; he didn't have to sound so horrified by the thought of my other sibling. Luffy was… harmless.

"Just one now, this is kinda a tribute to the brother we lost when we were kids."

"Sorry."

"Unless you're the fucking Tenryuubito who killed him you have nothing to be sorry over Izo." I said lowly as I walked back over to the pair, inspecting my new pixie cut in the mirror and ignoring Izo's suddenly brows drawn expression.

There was a tense stretch of silence where I silently scolded myself for letting my anger get the better of me before it was broken by Ace coughing into his fist.

"Well ok then." Izo shook his head, worried expression gone. "Ann, come find me if you want to style your hair. But knowing you and your whole 'refuses to wear make-up' deal I won't be seeing you until the party so I'll just leave you both with these parting words;" He lent in close to Ace and I, a twinkle in his eyes as a smile stretch across his painted lips "If yous are going to cause any trouble make sure you tell me beforehand so I have a good seat."

With a parting mischievous wink our way the Gaisha left me standing there with my perplexed looking twin, sauntering away and probably in search of his next victim. That poor helpless basterd had no idea what was currently baring down on him or her, may the sea gods have mercy on their soul.

"Interesting individual that one…" Ace mumbled as he continued to look at the retreating Okama.

"That is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg dear brother." I said sagely before a Cheshire like grin found its way across my lip and I asked what I was practically dying to know "So, have fun with Maybelle?"

A chocked sound escaped my twin and I had to restrain myself from laughing outright.

"That woman is positively evil. You could have warned me" He pouted.

"I could have." As he turned around to glare at me I grinned widely back at him, paying his animosity no mind. "But then we wouldn't be even for the headache you have caused for me over the past two months… unless you think that whatever Maybelle did to you wasn't punishment enough for your pig-headedness?"

Ace shuddered. "No, I'm sorry."

"Well let's get going." I pulled my white over shirt on, tying its ends up around my waist.

"Almost all of the crew saw your scar this morning, why do you insist on wearing a shirt when I know how much it irritates you?" I raised both of my brows at my twin as I began rolling up the sleeves. "Are you afraid that you'll get judged for it… or is it because you're afraid of what people might say about me?"

I paused, right sleeve half done, and bought my wide eyed gaze up to look at Ace's troubled one, mouth falling open as words formed in my head but nothing but an unintelligible wheeze fell from my parted lips.

That was exactly why I hated anyone seeing the scar tissue that started on my left shoulder and went all the way down to my left hip, coving half of my back, part of my ribs and the top of my left arm in a married of different shades of pinkish lines and patches, the skin puckered in some places, taunt like the skin of a drum in others or raised in a fashion that made it look like the roots of a tree had burrowed under my skin.

I wasn't embarrassed by it in the slightest. In fact I hated having anything against it because it did irritate me… but more than that and the only reason I covered it in the first place was that I hated how everyone did always seem to jump to the stupid conclusion that Ace had somehow been the cause of it.

Growing up on Dawn Island everyone had known how I'd received the scars that had kept me bed ridden for the better part of six months. So it wasn't until Ace and I had left home and a while after he'd become known as Firefist in a skirmish with another small crew that I realised my scars could be interpreted in a completely different way.

I could still remember how the rival pirate captain had leered at me lecherously, telling me that he'd never think to treat me in such a way as my current captain would and if I switched sides he'd punish Ace for burning me in such a horrible way. I'd never forget the look of abject horror that had stolen across Ace's features or how the other pirate's words had caused my twin to stumble like he'd been physically hit, almost getting his head lopped off by an enemy carrying a sabre.

In the end I'd unleashed my own flames on the opposing crew, the first time since I'd actually received the powers and turned every last one of them to ash. From that day forth I'd worn a long sleeved blouse whenever I was around anyone other than our own crew so no-one could use that to crush my twin's spirit again.

Ace knew all of this; I'd never hidden my reasons why from him, I didn't see the point in it. Which just left me to wonder why he was bringing it up now?

"This is our home now Ann, you should be able to relax at home. Everyone already saw it so let them think what they want." His smile was warm and understanding, it was his eyes that betrayed how he was feeling; slightly sad as he knew what was more then likely to be said about him.

It was gone within a moment though, as though it had never been there. That cocky grin that he was famous quickly appearing as his next words left his mouth. "Besides, I have a feeling that the rest of our crew and even that Okama dude will sort them out quick if they do have anything to say."

"Ok, fine!" I said as I pulled off my blouse, easily realising this as one of those things that he wouldn't let this go until he got his way. Still I pegged him with a level stare as I folded up the white top. "But if I happen to punch anyone I catch saying shit I'll tell Pop's that you're to blame."

"As long as you're happy I think I can deal with it." Ace grinned at me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders as we left the bathroom.

"Hey, do you think we could maybe-" I stopped walking as Ace trailed off, craining my neck so I could peer at him quizzically and waiting patiently for him to finish his question.

A sheepish expression played across his face as he reached up to scratch the back of his head. "Do you think we could go sneak some of that party food from the kitchen? I'm starving!"

I threw my head back and laughed. This was the brother that I loved and missed.

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 **FIREmizuchi: Shameless hedonist... I like it.**

 **GreenDrkness: *Sigh* So was this one... possibly.**

 **miss-sakurako: Ahhh but he still has room to grow, especially now that he's over his temper tantrum.**

 **Anonymous Love: Yeah she does.**

 **K: Thankyou. Don't worry, I'm right there with you on the lazy thing. Alas I took the other three down due to getting pissed at their content and deciding just to focus on this one. Had to google occ - yeah I don't see the point in doing that.**

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 **As Always Enjoy**

 **Xhex**

 **xoxox**


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